


What Are the Odds

by thatsoreyes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25642375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoreyes/pseuds/thatsoreyes
Summary: Zutara College AU with RA!Zuko
Relationships: Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 128
Kudos: 376
Collections: best zutara fics





	1. Move in and Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably really bad. So uh yeah.  
> Happy Zutara Week!  
> (Also shoutout to Amal and Sarah :) )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All!   
> This is my first attempt at writing a fic so bear with me! There is a line in this chapter from the show the order, if you catch it lmk!   
> Also shoutout to Amal and Sarah :)

_Home sweet home._

That’s Katara’s initial thought as she stares at the empty cinder block walls,

soon to be covered in decorations.

Her boxes sit on top of the bare green tinted cheap mattress, filled with school supplies, clothing, and memories from high school.

She turns around and looks at her roommates side of the room. All of her stuff is unpacked but the walls are empty.

Toph doesn’t see a need in frivolous wall décor, if she can’t see it, why bother are the words she utters before trudging out of the room to do lord knows what.

She sets to work unpacking her clothes into the large wardrobe and drawers the university so _graciously_ included. It takes about an hour for her to completely unpack almost all of her belongings.

She is attempting to hang a mirror on the wall when she hears a knock on the door that’s already half open. 

“You can come in!” she yells she hates leaving tasks unfinished and she swears she almost has it right.

“Hello?” A head peaks in and Katara turns around and makes eye contact with a pair of amber eyes, one of which has what looks like a scar covering it. 

He looks familiar.

“I’m Zuko! I’m the Resident Advisor for floor 4, which is this floor, so therefore I am your RA.” He stammers awkwardly and offers his hand.

Ah right, he is the one who handed her the keys to room 415 this morning.

“Katara.” She says putting the mirror down shaking his hand.

“Alright let’s get this over with, okay university dorm rules.” he hands her a sheet of paper.

“If I catch you breaking them I have to report you so…“

“Don’t break any rules.” Katara states.

“Don’t let me catch you, exactly.” Zuko looks at her with an amused smile.

“Right…” Katara smiles back.

“Anyways” He starts, “I’m in room 420 down the hallway if you need anything my door is always, well not _always,_ but most of the time it’s open.”

He starts to turn around to leave when he whips back around and takes his phone out of his pocket.

“Oh! Can you give me your number? I’m not being creepy I promise it’s just for the floor group message slash if you every have an emergency/question.”

“Yeah of course!” she states as she takes his phone from his hand and enters her number and name, then hands his phone back to him.

He looks at her contact information and tilts his head, eyes widening a little as he reads her last name.

“Any chance you know someone named Sokka?” he questions.

She rolls her eyes, “Yes. That would be my idiot brother. Why? Do you know him.” She looks at him curiously.

He laughs, “Oh I know Sokka. We play soccer together.” He points to his shirt which reads BSSU Soccer with a number 4.

It takes all of Katara’s willpower not face palm. How did she not notice that before? Is she really that sleep deprived? That’s why he looked so familiar. Her, Suki, and Aang spent the entire Fall the previous year attending Sokka’s games at every chance they got. She starts to blush because she definitely remembers internally swooning over him just a tad.

“Anyways, I have to go introduce myself to the 19 other delinquents on this floor. We have a meeting tonight at 8 in the common room near the elevator. See you then?” he finishes and she nods.

“It was nice to meet you Katara” he says as he leaves.

Her name rolls off of his tongue a little to nicely in her opinion.

She closes the door leaning against it.

_This year was going to be interesting to say the least_ she thinks.

A few minutes later she’s back to hanging up the mirror when her phone buzzes.

**IMessage from: Maybe: Zuko**

**Hey! Its Zuko. Sending you this message so you have my number.**

The door opens quickly.

“You seem cheery.” Toph states blatantly and she moves past Katara to sit on her bed.

Katara looks at her confused.

“How could you possibly be able to tell that?”

“I may be blind but I can still see in other ways. Anyways, what do you like to do for fun Sugarqueen?” Toph prodes.

Katara doesn’t question the nickname and takes a seat on her adjacent bed as her and Toph fall into a conversation with ease.

_Yeah. This is going to be an interesting year._


	2. First Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara experiences her first college party. Sokka is Sokka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I wrote this in like an hour and a half so if it is horrible.... I am blaming it on my ~sleep deprivation~
> 
> Enjoy!

At 7:57pm Katara and Toph walk down the hallway together towards the common room.

“So, have you met Sparky yet?” Toph questions.

Katara looks at her confused.

“Who?”

“Sparky! You know….the glorified camp counselor.” Toph states.

“You mean Zuko? …Our RA?”

“Yes! Mr. Clipboard! Sparky!” She exclaims as they walk through the door.

Katara rolls her eyes at that. _How the hell did Toph even know he had a clipboard?_

They take a seat on one of the couches and observe as others their age make their way into the room.

Zuko strolls into the room _clipboard_ in hand at exactly 8:00 pm sharp.

The whole meeting is so awkward.

Zuko basically explains the rules for the dorm.

No alcohol and no members of the opposite sex over after 12am. This provokes eyerolls amongst the group and a comment about how if you’re not into members of the opposite sex it’s not your problem. Katara also hears Ty Lee mumble something along the lines of “ _It’s a win for the gays_!” He then goes onto say that this can easily be averted by having a friend of the opposite sex sign them in for you, but informs the group that they _did not hear it from him_ , earning a small number of chuckles making him grin.

He then forces the twenty college freshman to engage in an icebreaker activity, which also earns him a collective swarm of sounds of annoyance.

She learns a few things.

There is a cute boy named Haru from room 406. He is an environmental science major and has climbed mount Everest.

There is a girl named Yue with striking blonde hair. She lives across the hall from Toph and Katara in room 417. She is a fashion merchandizing major whose dad works for Versace.

A girl named Ty Lee who Katara recognizes from Volleyball try-outs is also there. She is Yue’s roommate and a communications major.

The remaining residents give their mini-introductions.

Zuko is the last to go.

He informs the group that he is a Sophomore double majoring in Political Science and Exercise Science. He also passes along the fact that he starts for the Soccer Team eyes locking with Katara at the mention of this fact.

Katara blocks out the fawning gazes directed at Zuko of the girls and some of the guys sitting around her.

At around 8:30 the meeting ends and everyone returns to their rooms.

It’s like clockwork that as soon as Katara steps over the threshold of her room her phone starts ringing.

**Incoming Facetime Call from: Sokka**

Katara smiles as she answers.

“Hey little sis!” Sokka yells. There’s music in the background and he hears a voice that sounds like Suki tell Sokka to tell Katara that she says hi.

“So how was your first day of college life? Was it everything you ever hoped for? Is your shoebox dorm the room of your dreams?” he asks sarcastically.

“Oh yeah the white cinder blocks, the musty floors and the faint smell of weed coming from the hallway really capture the essence I was picturing.” She retorts back.

“Have you met your RA? Are they a total hardass? I wonder if I know them… There’s a couple of people on the team that are doing that this year and there are some people on the lacrosse team too I think.” Sokka rambles on.

“Oh, I met my RA. And I think you actually probably know him pretty well.”

“See Suki! I told you it would be someone I knew! Who is it?”

“Zuko, number 4 on the soccer team with you”

“ _ZUKO IS YOUR RA_?” Sokka yells excitedly.

“ _…_ yeah.”

“This is the best news ever! Now I can keep an eye on you without having to bribe or threaten the RA!”

“Sokka shut up!” she hears Suki from the background.

“You did _not_ just say that. I am 18 years old Sokka I’m not a baby anymore you do not need to _keep an eye on me._ ” Katara says rolling her eyes.

“Please as your big brother that is my job for life. Even when we are old and in nursing homes, unable to walk, I will always be on the lookout for you.” Sokka states matter of factly.

“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes again.

Sokka ignores that.

“Sooooo…What are you doing tonight?” he questions.

“Nothing, probably just hanging out with Toph, watching netflix and sleeping.”

Sokka looks at her like she just grew a second head.

“That is absolutely _not_ how you are spending your first night at college!” he exclaims.

“You’re the one who just said that you were going to keep an eye on me? And now you want me to go out and party?” Katara asks in a confused voice.

Toph perks up at this.

“Yes. Party. Under my supervision. My roommates and I were going to have a party tonight at the soccer house. A little welcome back sort of thing before classes start next week. You’re coming.”

“I don’t know Sokka-“

“Volleyball doesn’t start until Sunday. Enjoy your first and last night of freedom! Live a little! I’ll come pick you up at 10:30! Bring your friends!” Sokka says as he hangs up before she even gets a chance to respond.

Katara sighs and Toph is looking at her expectantly.

“Your brother is fun.”

“He is something alright.”

While her and Toph get ready for the party, Toph pulls out a bottle of clear liquid from a drawer along with 2 shot glasses and Katara gives her a sideways glance.

As If she can sense her stare, Toph blurts out “I am sorry but there is no way I am showing up to a party completely sober. Cheers.” As she hands Katara a shot glass filled with what Katara assumes is Vodka.

Katara downs the shot and winces at the burn it leaves in her throat. The feeling is gone almost as quickly as it arose and after two more she feels a little lighter on her feet.

Her and Toph decide to invite Yue and Ty Lee to go with them, both of whom agree almost instantly.

Its August and the air is hot and sticky so Katara throws her hair into a ponytail and applies minimal makeup, otherwise she will end up sweating it all off.

She decides on a plain white halter top paired with a black skirt that has little white stars all over it. She looks at herself in the mirror. _This screams basic_ she thinks. But she doesn’t really care because it’s cute and safe. 

Katara, Toph, Yue and Ty Lee all take another shot together but this time it goes down smoother because Ty Lee had lemonade in her fridge and shared it as a chaser.

At 10:35 her phone buzzes.

**IMessage: From: Sokka**

**Ur uber has arrived. Hurry up.**

She rolls her eyes.

The 4 girls make their way down to the lobby avoiding the gaze of the security guard and go out the door to see Sokka’s sitting in the parking lot in his car.

When they climb in Katara takes the passenger seat and the three others hop in the back.

Sokka introduces himself to the 3 girls.

Katara notices Yue look at him with slightly more interest than the 2 other girls but ignores it. She’ll have to inform Yue of Suki’s presence later. Speaking of,

“Where is Suki?” Katara asks.

“She is making a run to get some _stuff_ for tonight with one of her friends.” he answers.

Katara hums in response.

The ride to the house is short and when they pull up the car begins to vibrate from the music that’s being played from inside the house.

They get out of the car and make their way inside. Katara is vaguely familiar with the house in the sense that she was her once when Sokka moved in a month ago, but that’s as far as her experience goes.

Although its August, the porch is decorated with Christmas lights, something which Katara assumes is Suki’s doing. Its filled with people some of whom she thinks look sort of familiar. As they walk up the porch and into the house she sees a glimpse of a girl throwing up into the bushes and Toph verbalizes her thoughts.

“Already? Some people need to learn how to hold their liquor. I mean its not even 11 yet!” She states.

This makes Sokka snort.

When they enter the house, the foyer is a relatively big open room that has a set of stairs leading up to the bedrooms. There are a number of people sitting on the steps and around the room with red cups in their hands and led lights are lighting up the room in different hues of red, blue and green.

They follow Sokka into the kitchen which has a bunch of coolers filled with beer. There are also a few handles of vodka, tequila and rum along with some mixers sitting on the counter accompanied by a stack of red solo cups and a sharpie.

Sokka tells them to help themselves then disappears briefly and returns with Suki on his arm.

Katara doesn’t miss the dejected look from Yue. Though it is gone almost as quickly as it shows up.

Sokka takes the girls around the house and out on the porch to introduce them to others at the party.

She meets a lot of the boys from the soccer team, including a freshman named Jet. He is incredibly outgoing and charismatic, but Sokka seems to pick up on something and drags her away from the conversation much to her dismay, however the blanket that the alcohol provides her is enough to let her shake off her annoyance. 

At around 11:55 while talking to Suki about why the Game of Thrones finale could have been better, Suki’s eyes catch on something behind Katara and before she has a chance to turn around she hears,

“Fancy seeing you here.” from a familiar voice.


	3. The Buddy System

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party continues...Drunk Sokka!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I am sleep deprived again... so if it is bad... that is where I am shifting the blame <3 Enjoy!

_“Fancy seeing you here”_

Katara’s ears perk at the voice behind the words spoken, then a realization washes over here all at once. She spins around hiding her solo cup behind her back as she comes face to face with her RA.

“Uh Hi Zuko!” she blurts out trying to remain casual. _She is not casual at all._ She can hear Suki giggle from behind her. When she meets his eyes, she notes that they have a hint of amusement in them. 

“What do you have there behind your back?” he says trying to look behind her.

“Nothing!” she drawls out taking another step back almost pushing Suki over.

He raises his eyebrows.

“Nothing?” he questions.

“Nope not a _single_ thing.” she states hand clutching the cup behind her back.

In one swift move he grabs the cup from her hand behind her back and looks at it.

“Pink lemonade Svedka? When there was Titos _RIGHT_ there? You have so much to learn.” he states rolling his eyes and handing the cup back to her. She can feel Suki’s eyeroll behind her.

She looks at him dumbfounded.

“Wait I’m not … _in trouble_?”

“Hey! I am not your parents! If its outside of the dorm it’s not my business” he states and Katara nods and releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“You’re such a dick.” Suki snickers from behind Katara.

All of the sudden a drunk Sokka makes his way out onto the porch and throws an arm around Zuko and hands him a drink. Zuko takes the drink reluctantly eyeing it before taking a sip of it and wincing.

“ZUKO! My best friend. My RIDE OR _DIE_. I heard you’re my sisters camp counselor!“

“Camp counselor?” Zuko screeches.

“Camp counselor…RA… same thing just …different shapes…” Sokka trails off.

“Right… and how many of these have you had buddy?” Zuko prodes gesturing to the beer in Sokka’s hand giving him a curious look.

Sokka holds up his hand to display the tally system he has been keeping with a sharpie. It looks like there are supposed to be 8 lines? He then stumbles a little almost bringing Zuko down with him.

“Alright, I think it’s time for you to slow down a little babe.” Suki states as she grabs Sokka by the arm and drags him inside presumably to sober up. Zuko shakes his head in amusement as he watches them go then turns his attention to a pair of blue eyes glancing up at him.

“So…” she starts.

“Oh- also not that I think you would be _that_ person but please do not tell any of the faculty for the dorm that you saw me here. I could get in big trouble. Especially if they found out I was with residents.” He says with a pleading look.

“Don’t worry, what happens at the soccer house _stays_ at the soccer house.” she muses. 

“Precisely.”

They fall into an easy conversation mostly about their respective sports which then transitions into talk of academics. 

“You said during the floor meeting that you’re pre-med right?” He asks.

“Yeah, and I am already dreading the series of mental breakdowns that are an inevitable package deal with my major.” She blatantly states and he lets out a snort in response.

“Well if you ever need to rant about gen chem or gen bio I get it, since one of my majors is exercise science I’ve taken both of those and experienced the pain first hand.” He shutters at the memory.

“I might just take you up on that, but when you get an alarming number of texts at 2am the night before an exam, know that that was _your doing_.” She says smiling and he laughs.

“What professors do you have? I wonder if had them or at least know of them.”

“I don’t remember them off the top of my head the only two names I remember are Bumi and…what was it… oh- Iroh? I think? Do you know either of them?” she asks.

“Bumi is… tough but if you put in the effort and study you’ll be fine. And Iroh… I know him pretty well. He is a great professor.” he says. There is something in his eyes that she can’t quite pinpoint and it looks like he wants to say more, but she doesn’t press the matter. Instead they start to talk about things of more interest than school. He tells her stories of his freshman year about him and Sokka. Stories that if Sokka knew she had any idea about, would die of embarrassment probably. They swap stories of where they grew up. Zuko is from fire nation, he doesn’t say much about his family, but does mention that he has a sister that goes here. Katara talks about her home and her family and she doesn’t notice but he looks at her longingly while she tells stories of her father.

Katara’s not exactly sure how much time has passed since they started talking, but her once full drink is now completely empty. She pulls out her phone to look at the time and her eyes widen just a little when she sees that its 1:30 am. Suki comes back outside to talk to them but Katara excuses herself to look for Toph, Yue and Ty Lee so that they can leave. They had told Sokka earlier that they would walk home because nobody was in a state to drive and it was only a couple of blocks away. The problem is, she can’t find her roommate or the other two girls anywhere.

She finds Sokka who has become noticeably less inebriated and asks if he had seen them.

“Oh yeah, they said something about not wanting to bother you because it looked like you were having fun, I told them that Suki and I would walk you home, I think they left an hour ago.” He answers her and she groans. She doesn’t want to force her brother to leave his own party just to take her home. She walks back out onto the porch to find Suki and Zuko talking about someone named Mai.

“Hey Katara!” Suki says cheerfully.

“Heyyy…” she drawls out tiredly.

“You seem tired, do you want me to go find Sokka so we can walk you home?” she asks.

“I don’t want to make you guys leave, I can just walk home by myself, I have my phone on me it’s not a big deal.”

Suki is about to respond when Zuko beats her to it.

“Or I could just walk you home?”

“What?” Katara blinks.

“I mean we live in the same building, and I was going to walk home anyways. The buddy system just makes it safer. Besides, what kind of RA would I be if I let my resident walk home by herself?” he states and Katara rolls her eyes at the last sentence.

“If you’re sure.” she says and he nods,

“Let me say bye to everyone then we can head out.” He says and then makes his way inside leaving her and Suki on the porch.

“So… you and Zuko seem to have hit it off…” Suki says raising her eyebrows. Katara rolls her eyes and a look of annoyance washes over her features.

“He is my RA. It is literally his _job_ to be nice to me. And I have known him for a grand total of about 12 hours.” Katara states blatantly.

Suki raises her hands up defensively, “Hey I’m just saying!”

“You’re delusional.”

“You’re no fun when you’re tired.”

“You take that back! I am _plenty_ of fun!” she gasps feigning hurt.

“You ready?” Katara hears from Zuko as he makes his way over to them. Katara nods and then gives Suki a hug before retreating down the steps of the porch and to the sidewalk with Zuko.

“Oh! Guys! Sokka and I were going to get breakfast, well more like brunch tomorrow morning, you guys are coming. Bring your friends too Katara!” Suki yells at them from the porch and then diverts her attention elsewhere before either of them can decline.

Katara starts to walk in the direction she thinks is where their residence hall is, but 3 seconds later Zuko calls out,

“It’s actually that way,” pointing in the opposite direction. She internally groans and turns around to walk in the other direction. They fall into a matching rhythm walking next to each other. Katara remains pretty quiet the entire time, mostly because of how tired she is. He does most of the talking, pointing out campus landmarks and buildings. She hums in response.

They make it to the residence hall in just 10 minutes scanning their student IDs to get into the building and past the security desk.

When they get into the elevator, she casts him a sideways glance. Their demeanors are completely different. She can tell that she looks exhausted, but he looks bright and cheery, alive as ever.

The elevator dings and they walk out of it in sync making their way down the hallway to their rooms. She stops at her door, and he keeps walking so she grabs his arm, and he turns around.

“Thank you.” She states.

“For what?” his eyebrows furrow.

“Walking me home? Serving as my own personal compass?” she states.

“Oh right, _that_ , of course. Anytime”

She tilts her head, “Anytime?” she questions.

“Yes, uh anytime, because I am your RA and it is my _job”_ he stammers out. It sounds like he is trying to convince himself of that fact. 

“Right…” her eyes twinkle with amusement and she lets go of his arm.

“Goodnight Zuko.” She states smiling at him before unlocking her door and heading into her room.

“Goodnight Katara.” She hears before the door clicks.

She tries to be as quiet and stealthy as possible in order not to wake Toph. She brushes her teeth and changes into her pajamas before climbing into her twin XL bed.

“So you and Sparky huh?”

Katara groans. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe  
> Kat


	4. Sore Loser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theres a lot going on in this chapter, Brunch, Volleyball, Soccer, Tours... enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, a scrimmage is just a game that doesn't count towards the season and is usually played within the team. Also shoutout to Amal, Emma and Hailey... :)

The next morning, Suki, Sokka, Zuko, Toph and Katara squeeze into a booth together. They order 5 cups of coffee the moment they sit down and browse the menu. They’re all exhausted from the night before and Katara almost resents Sokka for the phone call she got while she was in deep sleep this morning at 9:30 am.

“So, have you talked to Aang?” Sokka gives Katara a questioning glance.

A flash of guilt falls over her features.

“No, I haven’t, and it’s not that I don’t want to, I’ve just been so busy the past few days with packing and moving…” she trails off.

“Right, _busy_.” Sokka states putting air quotations around busy. “You can’t avoid him forever Katara,” he continues.

“Whose Aang?” Toph and Zuko ask in unison.

“He’s a good friend of mine and Katara’s, but he’s still a senior in high school. He confessed his love to Katara about a week ago and it did not go well- _OW_ …did you just kick me? _”_ Sokka hisses.

“Muscle Spasm.” Katara states.

“I’m just _saying_ you have to face him at some point.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to talk to him, I _want_ to talk to him more than anything, I just don’t want to hurt his feelings…” she states as she absentmindedly trails her finger around the rim of her coffee mug. 

“Anyways… doesn’t volleyball start tomorrow?” Suki asks changing the subject to something less taxing.

“Yup, bright and early at 7am. Can’t wait.” Katara states sarcastically.

“I’m sure till be great! Isn’t your friend Ty Lee that was at the party last night on the team too?”

She nods.

“Wait Zuko, isn’t Mai on the team? And doesn’t Azula play at DLU?” Suki directs her attention at him and he stiffens and nods.

Katara also directs her gaze towards him, he hadn’t mentioned this last night from what she can remember. Though, she _does_ remember hearing the tail end of a conversation about someone named Mai.

“Who are Mai and Azula?” Katara questions. 

“Azula is my sister and Mai is-”

“His ex-girlfriend.” Sokka finishes for him and Zuko sighs, his eyes are clouded with something she can’t quite read.

“So… let me get this straight… I am going to on a team with your _ex-girlfriend_ and I am going to be rivaling _your sister_ and you didn’t think to bring that up last night while we were on the subject matter?” she says with a look of bewilderment and he shrinks in his seat.

“I didn’t think those details were important at the time!” He defends himself.

“Some RA you are. Reaaaal helpful.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

“Just that-“

“I don’t know about you guys but I am starving!” Toph speaks cutting off their banter, and like clockwork the waitress at the diner walks over.

They order their food and the topic is dropped.

* * *

The next morning Katara wakes up at the crack of dawn to get ready for her first practice. She showers, brushes her teeth and throws on her clothes and by 6:15 she is ready to go. She grabs her water bottle and backpack and heads out of her room, locking the door behind her. She meets Ty Lee at the elevator and they begin their walk to the coliseum where their practices are held.

The building is all the way on the other side of campus and they arrive at 6:50 making their way to the Volley Ball locker room to put their stuff away.

Their coach is nice but terrifying. His name is Bato, and he’s one of the best coaches in the NCAAA for volleyball, but he is known for being a ruthless if you get on his bad side. She also meets Mai, who seems nice enough but awfully quiet. She decides not to bring up the fact that Zuko is her RA for her own sake.

Practice is draining. The first hour is just introductions and conditioning. Katara hasn’t worked her body like this in months, not since she played in high school the previous fall, and the intensity of this is at least twice the amount. Katara loses count of how many laps she’s run around the court.

The remaining 2 hours are spent practicing on the actual court, which Katara would take hours of over running laps. This is her element. It goes well enough but she, along with all the rest of the players are slumped by the time practice concludes at 9. Their next practice is Tuesday, but they are expected to go to the gym to do cardio and weights on days that they lack practice.

The team makes their way back to the locker room and Katara catches sight of herself in one of the mirrors. _I look deranged_ she thinks to herself. Her once high ponytail now sits at the bottom of her head and she looks completely exhausted. All she wants to do is take a long shower and sleep. She shakes her head and grabs her backpack from her locker. She waits for Ty Lee before they start their trek back to the dorms.

Her and Ty Lee are wrapped up in a conversation about serving techniques when she hears her name being yelled and stops in her tracks.

“Hey! Katara!” Sokka yells from a few meters in front of them, Zuko at his side. They’re both dressed in matching practice gear of opposite colors and have their soccer duffel bags with their numbers embroidered onto them in hand.

Katara is mortified. Mostly because she still looks disgusting from practice and the heat outside is not helping her case. Sokka seeing her like this she can deal with, but her RA? She feels sick.

“Hey Sokka, Hey Zuko.” Ty Lee beams completely oblivious to Katara’s internal breakdown.

“You guys should come to our scrimmage at 2, after Katara showers that is, no offence sis, but you look horrible.” Sokka says and Katara looks at him like he just kicked her puppy.

Zuko elbows him in the ribs and Sokka winces.

“You should totally come to our scrimmage, that way you can see me kick Sokka’s ass.” Zuko muses trying to divert from the comment.

“If anyone’s ass is getting kicked its _yours_!” Sokka says as squinting and Zuko rolls his eyes.

“We’ll be there!” Ty Lee adds.

* * *

When Katara and Ty Lee return to the dorm, they invite Yue and Toph to the soccer scrimmage as well. Once they shower and change, they grab lunch and then make their way to the soccer stadium together discussing the details of their days on the way. Katara sends Suki a text asking if she wants to go, but she informs Katara that she has practice until 4pm and she likely won’t make it. Katara and Ty Lee talk to them about their practice and Toph and Yue explain how they spent the morning looking for the rooms and buildings that their classes would be in for the following day. Katara makes a mental note to do so if she has time after the scrimmage. The last thing she needs is to get lost on the first day of class, or to walk into the wrong lecture hall.

When they arrive at the stadium they find it to be more packed than they expected. The girls find a set of seats in the middle towards the front. Katara looks around and does a double take when she spots Mai in the back of the stadium towards the top. She’s sitting with another girl on the volleyball team, as well as a girl with brown hair that Katara doesn’t recognize. Katara directs her attention back to her friends before Mai can notice her staring.

The Men’s soccer team emerges from the building off the side of the field which serves as their locker room. There is some cheering and clapping, but it’s nothing like a real game, mostly due to the fact that the team is essentially playing each other.

Katara surveys the field and watches the boys as they warm up. She locks eyes with Sokka who waves at her quickly so that his coach doesn’t notice. She hears Yue say something about how number 13 is cute and she shifts her view to the player in question.

_Jet._ At least she thinks that’s his name. She met at least 8 other team members last night so that might be wrong. Katara can’t argue with Yue. He is cute. She hums in agreement.

Her gaze moves to a familiar face. Zuko. She’s excited to see him in his element and hopes that he follows through and kicks Sokka’s ass like he had stated earlier.

The game starts and Katara narrates most of the action to Toph excitedly.

After the end of the first half Zuko’s team is up by 3 points. This makes Katara much happier than it should.

There is a 15 minute break before the start of the second half. Half of the team departs back into the locker room, while some of the team members hang out on the bench.

Katara finds herself starring at her RA again. He is dripping in sweat and drinking water smiling at something his teammate is saying to him. _It’s not fair,_ she thinks to herself _I look like a rat after practice and he looks like this? Tui and La clearly have favorites._

“If you stare any harder you’re going to turn him to stone.” Toph’s voice breaks her from her thoughts.

“I was _not_ staring.”

“You were ogling a little Katara.” Ty lee points out and Yue giggles. Katara’s cheeks are now tinted red.

“Toph your sixth sense terrifies me.” Katara states, it’s 3 versus one, she knows she is not going to win even if she keeps denying it.

“As it should.” Toph retorts.

She notices Zuko’s eyes scan the stadium. They catch on something, no someone behind her just for a millisecond and Katara doesn’t need to turn around to know who it is. His eyes avert and land on hers and he smiles and waves. Katara returns the gesture and then sinks a little in her seat hoping Mai didn’t witness that exchange. The last thing she needs is a teammate to hate her for being friends with an ex.

“What was that?” Yue asked her teasingly.

“What was _what?_ I am his resident. He’s just being nice. _”_ Katara replies back.

“Well, three of his other _residents_ are sitting right here. None of us got a wave and a lopsided smile…” Yue responds innocently.

“You guys are impossible.” Katara groans.

The second half of the game begins and both teams are neck in neck as it progresses. They end up tied and have to go into overtime. Zuko’s position is striker and in an incredible play, Jet passes him the ball, he fakes a pass to another teammate and then kicks the ball, which zooms past the goal keeper before he can even process. Just like that it’s over and Zuko’s side of the team has won the game.

Katara smirks at Sokka’s deflated face. _Karma_ she thinks.

Katara, Toph, Yue and Ty Lee walk down to where the seats meet the field so that Katara can talk to Sokka.

“Good game…” she teases him when he walks up to her and he rolls his eyes.

“Thanks for handing me the win on a silver platter Sokka!” Zuko beams as he walks over the group and Sokka huffs in annoyance.

“Count yourself lucky, I was going easy on you. Next time I won’t be so nice.”

“Sure. Sure.” He responds amused.

Katara is staring again. Seeing him from her seat is one thing, but seeing him up close like this. _I am sick in the head_ she thinks shaking her head and clearing her throat… _absolutely sick._

“Good job Zuko, I really enjoyed watching you _demolish_ my brother out there,” She teases, one last dig and Zuko grins in response and thanks her.

“Whatever.” Sokka grumbles.

“You _really enjoyed watching him_ Katara? Huh?” Toph teases quietly so only Katara can hear and she starts coughing abruptly causing everyone to look in her direction.

“You okay sis?” Sokka gives her a confused look.

“Allergies.” She pipes out cheeks red. He doesn’t look quite convinced but lets it go.

Zuko pulls out his phone to check the time, and his eyes go wide.

“Shit, I gotta go! RA meeting in an hour and I cannot show up looking like this.” He points to his sweaty figure. _I don’t see why not._ Katara thinks, then curses herself for even letting her brain go there. Zuko quickly says goodbye to everyone before running off the field in the direction of the residence hall.

The 4 girls remain talking to Sokka for a few more minutes about the game before they decide it’s time to leave.

* * *

At around 7pm Katara decides to venture around campus to figure out where her classes are for the following day. She pulls up her schedule on her phone and sees that three of her four Monday classes are in the Lotus Life Science building. She doesn’t even attempt to try to use the map they gave her at orientation, instead she puts the building name into maps and lets her phone guide her.

It takes about 6 minutes for her to reach the building the class is in. It is huge, at least half the size of her entire high school. She scans her ID card to enter the building and looks around taking in her surroundings. There are floor to ceiling windows on the wall she is walking in from and the other walls are decorated in student murals. There is a staircase to her left that goes up to a second level and down to an underground level. Two of her classes are in the giant lecture hall on the second floor which she finds easily. Her last class is harder to find. She roams for at least 20 minutes around the building in circles. She swears she has looked everywhere. She sighs pulling out her phone to text a certain someone for help.

**Katara: Hey… I could really use some resident advising right now…**

She sends the text and slips her phone back into her pocket continuing her search for the classroom. Her phone buzzes 30 seconds later.

**Zuko: RA Zuko at your service**

**Zuko: That was stupid**

**Zuko: What’s up?**

She lets out a snort, _at least he’s self-aware_ she thinks.

**Katara: I have been wandering around the life science building for 30 minutes in circles trying to find a classroom, any chance you know where room 015B is?**

He starts typing seconds after her message is delivered and a response comes moments later.

**Zuko: It’s kind of hard to explain over text, I’m in that area right now because I just got out of my meeting at the Office for Student Life, if you give me a few minutes I can meet you there and show you myself.**

She smiles at this before typing her response.

**Katara: Sounds good**

**Katara: Thank you!**

Her phone buzzes instantly again.

**Zuko: And to think, this morning you were questioning my RA skills**

She rolls her eyes and makes her way back to the lobby of the building, perching herself on one of the benches.

A few minutes later while scrolling on her phone she hears one of the doors to the buildings open and Zuko strolls in walking up to her.

“Shall we?” she stands up and follows him.  
  


He walks down the staircase into the underground level.

They walk down the hallway then they make a left and continue to stroll. He opens a door at the end of the corridor, which leads to another hallway.

“Is this classroom in Narnia or something?” she questions and he snorts at that.

“Or something… it’s a good thing you decided to look for your classes today because there is no way you would have been able to find this tomorrow on your own. Especially with how directionally challenged you are.”

That earns him a glare.

He stops at a door labeled 015B and opens it. It’s not as big as she thought it would be, but the class only has 40 people so she supposes it makes sense.

“Its smaller than I thought it would be.” She verbalizes her thoughts.

“What class do you have in here anyways?” he asks.

“Medical Ethics, with Professor Iroh.” She responds.

“Interesting.” He sounds amused again. Her eyes narrow.

“Have you had him as a professor before?”

“Iroh? No, I never had him but I know him.” He responds and she doesn’t press the matter, mostly because she is ready to get the hell out of the creepy basement in the science building.

They make their way back to the main level.

“Have you walked out the rest of your classes?” he asks.

“No, I have one more in the English building, but I might hold off on that since in your words I am _directionally challenged._ And that does not pair well with the sun going down.”

“I’ll show you where it is.” He muses.

“You don’t have to do that.” She states meeting his eyes.

“I am a human compass first, RA second.”

She rolls her eyes at that one.

“If you insist…”

* * *

Her and Zuko make their way back to the dorm after he guides them to the English building and her classroom which is thankfully not in a creepy basement.

They fall into a comfortable conversation about the game earlier and her first day of practice.

When they reach the building and make their way upstairs Katara has a sense of déjà vu from the night before.

The elevator dings and they walk back to their rooms.

“Thanks again- for being my personal compass” she states stopping at her door.

“Anytime.” He says with sincerity and then pauses, “Have a good first day of classes tomorrow, and do _not_ get lost!” he finishes and she lets out a small laugh before he continues down the hall to his own room.

“Goodnight Katara!” he yells down the hallway when he reaches his door.

“Zuko, its literally 8 pm. Do you have the sleep schedule of a senior citizen?” She quips.

“No, I have the sleep schedule of a D1 soccer player. I have to be up at 4:30 for weight training. I rise with the sun, or at least that’s what coach Piando says.” He rolls his eyes before unlocking his door.

“4:30?! Is your coach Satan?” Her eyes go wide and she shutters. She had a hard enough time waking up for her 7am practice. If the sun is not up, neither is she. 

He tilts his head, “You know what that’s a great comparison actually.”

She laughs “Goodnight Zuko,” then enters her room closing the door behind her.

Toph pauses her music when she hears Katara enter. 

"Sparky walking you back 2 nights in a row? Are you guys going steady now?" she smirks. 

"Not this _again_ " Katara groans. 


	5. Confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara has an unexpected visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of all over the place, but I hope you all enjoy!

“People should stop advertising syllabus week. It’s a _myth_.” Katara groans hopping up onto her bed adjacent from Toph’s.

“I am with you there Sugarqueen.” Toph sighs, she’s sitting at her desk working on a paper for her astronomy class.

It’s now Friday and this has been a week from _hell_. On top of being worked to the bone by her coach, her professors kickstart right into lecture mode 5 minutes into the first day of classes. She already has 2 quizzes Monday and a paper due by Wednesday. It wouldn’t be so bad if her coach didn’t decide to schedule a last minute Saturday morning practice from 7am to 11am. Then additional weight training and conditioning from 1pm-3pm. Sokka said something about having a party tomorrow night so maybe she could blow off some steam then if she isn’t exhausted.

She decides to go on a walk to clear her head before she spends the rest of her night diving head first into her mountain of assignments. She puts her headphones in and just starts walking around campus not paying much attention to her surroundings.

Most of her time this week has been spent in to coliseum at practice or in the library with her teammates or Toph. Katara hasn’t seen much of her RA at all this week. He sends occasional texts in their floor group message for moral support, but she hasn’t really seen him at all since Sunday. She assumes he must be insanely busy between school, soccer and his job, especially because their first actual game is tomorrow afternoon.

She is so consumed by her own thoughts that she doesn’t hear the very person taking them up call out her name. She keeps walking and he runs up in front of her almost causing her to walk directly into his chest, but she halts when her vision is blocked by a white t-shirt and she startles.

“Ah hi Zuko! Sorry I couldn’t hear you…” she trails off and gestures to her headphones.

“Don’t worry about it! I was just on my way back from a run and saw you so I figured I would come see how your first week was?” He states staring down at her.

She pauses before answering realizing how close they are but doesn’t take a step back.

“Well, I’ve concluded that syllabus week isn’t _real_. Especially for student atheletes. I am buried in work already and it hasn’t even been a week.” She shutters and he snorts.

“Tell me about it. I already have 4 assignments due by the end of next week and 2 papers due by Tuesday and on top of that ,Piando is working us to the bone.” He complains.

“It’ll be worth it when you guys win on Saturday.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself. We’ll win but at what cost?”

“The cost of your sanity?” she suggests.

“Precisely.”

She lets out a laugh.

“Hey, are you coming to the game? I could use a good luck charm.”

She hesitates before answering, _is he flirting with me…_ she questions but then dismisses the thought, _he’s probably just being nice._

“Please you don’t need luck you’re one of the best players on the field.” He grins at his, and she continues, “but no I unfortunately can’t make it due to my insane coach scheduling a last minute 4 hour practice then a 2 hour conditioning session” she says slightly dejected and he shutters.

“2 hours of conditioning? I think you’re the one who needs good luck.” And she nods in agreement.

“Will you be at Sokka’s tomorrow night?” she questions sending him a curious glance.

“I think so, you?” he responds.

“If I’m not dead from practice.”

*****

The next day, practice is _brutal_. Coach Bato is showing no mercy. They have brief 2 minute breaks every 30 minutes or so, but he keeps them working until 11am sharp. Then they are free to relax and eat for an hour before conditioning starts. Her and Ty Lee are eating lunch at the café next to the Coliseum when she decides to send a text to Sokka to wish him good luck. She decides for _no reason at all_ to send a text to Zuko as well.

**Katara: Good luck today! Please win. I simply cannot handle a moping, drunk Sokka later.**

She sets her phone down on the table and continues her conversation with Ty Lee before he phones buzzes 2 minutes later.

**Zuko: Thank you! I will do my best, sad drunk Sokka is infinitely worse than normal drunk Sokka**

**Zuko: So, does this mean you _are_ going to the party later?**

She responds instantly.

**Katara: Maybe**

Then she puts her phone back down. When she looks up Ty Lee is smirking at her.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?” Katara starts about to pull her phone out to look at herself in the front camera.

“Just a smile. Wonder who you could be texting that would make you smile that big…” Ty Lee teases laughing and Katara throws a cherry tomato from her salad at Ty Lee.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I was just texting Sokka good luck.” It’s technically a lie.

“Mhm sure you were…” Ty Lee teases but then drops the subject.

The two enjoy their last 20 minutes of freedom before trudging their way back to the locker room.

***

When Katara and Ty Lee return to their dorm at around 3:30 she hasn’t received any news from Sokka or Zuko, but she did receive a text from Suki informing her that they were winning after the first half about 20 minutes prior.

Katara opens her door and comes face to face with the person she has been avoiding for the past 2 weeks.

“Aang?” she lets out a screech.

“Hi Katara!” he says sheepishly, scratching his neck.

“What are you doing here-How did you even get up here?”

“I recognized your roommate, and she let me in, speaking of which, did you know she skipped a year? If I had known that was a possibility-never mind.” he cuts himself off and points to Toph who is sitting on her bed and she shrugs. Katara makes a mental note to yell at her later.

“Aang you _cannot_ just show up here out of the blue!” She is exhausted from practice and frustrated because this is not the time or place she wanted to deal with this. Toph gets off of her bed and makes her way past the two of them and towards the door.

“I’m just going to, uh, take a walk…” she excuses herself.

As soon as the door clicks they continue.

“Well what was I supposed to do. You weren’t talking to me. You weren’t answering any of my texts. As far as I was concerned it seemed like you wanted nothing to do with me. I poured my heart out to you before you left and now you’re acting like you don’t care about me at all!”

“Aang I do care about you, and I do love you. But not in the way you want me too. You are like a brother to me.”

“That’s not true.”

“What do you mean _that’s not true?_ ” she is seething.

“You’ve changed.” He says with an icy tone.

“Aang _this_ is who I have always been. You’re acting like I owe you something- like I owe you feelings that I cannot physically bring myself to have. You’re acting like a _little kid_.” She finishes, her voice full of frustration and a flash of hurt washes over his features.

“You’re right. You don’t owe me anything.” He yells and then leaves slamming the door behind him.

She signs and brings her hands to her face. She is not going to run after him right now. It’ll just result in the same argument. He needs time to process. Instead she gets in the shower washing away her anger and exhaustion. When she gets out of the shower she checks her phone to see if there is any news from Suki, Sokka or Zuko. There’s nothing. The game must have gone into overtime. She decides to take a power nap so that she can will herself to actually go to Sokka’s party later. She drifts in and out of sleep and at some point she hears Toph come in but she doesn’t say anything.

***

When Katara awakens she notices that its dark outside and yawns loudly, stretching her arms. She hadn’t meant to sleep for so long but the week of classes and practices combined with her fight with Aang must have tired her out more than she had realized.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.”

Katara rolls her eyes.

“What time is it?” she yawns again.

“9:30.”

“It’s 9:30?!” Katara yelps before quickly looking for her phone located somewhere in her sheets.

“Yeah, I thought about waking you up when I came in a few hours ago, but you looked like you needed the sleep.”

Katara doesn’t fight her on that. She _did_ need the sleep. When she finally finds her phone, she has a series of texts from Sokka and Suki as well and a text from Zuko. She reads Sokka’s texts first, which inform her that they won the game, which is a relief, because Katara wasn’t kidding earlier, sad drunk Sokka is no fun.

She opens the message from her RA.

**Zuko: Good news, no sad Sokka tonight**

She smiles and sends a quick response.

**Katara: Congratulations! See I knew you could do it! :)**

She then clicks Sokka’s contact name then the facetime icon and waits for him to answer.

After a couple of seconds, he picks up, his face taking up the entire screen.

“Katara! I have been trying to reach you for hours! We won by the way! Are you still coming tonight?” He asks. 

“Sorry,” she says sheepishly then continues, “Practice ran me into the ground then when I came back Aang was in my room and we got into a huge fight and then I took an extremely long nap.” She finishes, and Sokka’s eyes go wide.

“Aang showed up? To your dorm? I deliberately told him not to do that.” Sokka groans.

“Oh, he showed up alright. And it did _not_ go well…” she trails off.

“So, what I’m hearing is, you need a drink!” she hears Suki say in the background.

“That is exactly what I need!” Katara laughs.

“Perfect we can go shot for shot.” Sokka laughs.

“Can I bring Toph, Ty Lee and Yue?”

“Yeah of course, you don’t even need to ask they’re always welcome. Toph owes me a rematch in beer pong anyways. I’m still unsure of how she managed to win…” Sokka looks skeptical.

“I am just simply better than you.” Toph retorts and Sokka huffs.

“Also, I have already started erm drinking so do you guys mind walking?”

“No that’s fine I still need to get ready anyways, see you in an hour-ish!” Katara finishes before hanging up.

Katara slips on a pair of white jeans and a blue wrap top. She then does her hair in a half up half down style and puts on her shoes. Ty Lee and Yue come into their room while Katara is finishing getting ready to hang out and pre game together. Once her makeup is done it’s around 10:15 pm. By the time they are leaving their residence hall Katara is 3 shots deep feeling lighter on her feet and channeling out the events of earlier.

***

When they arrive at the house there are far more people here than last week. Sokka is on the porch talking to one of his teammates when he spots Katara and excuses himself from his conversation.

“Hey sis, how are you hanging in there?” he asks her, he doesn’t seem incredibly drunk yet which is shocking to her. Her phone buzzes and she glances at it to see it’s a snapchat from the person causing her stress. She slips her phone into her pocket ignoring the notification and responds,

“I need a drink.”

Yue and Ty Lee look confused but don’t press the matter, she hadn’t brought up the confrontation to them mostly because she didn’t want to think about it herself. Sokka nods with a look of understanding and leads her into the kitchen where all of the alcohol is.

She pours herself a mixture of lemonade and takes Zuko’s advice from the last party by putting in Tito’s instead of Svedka.

Aangs words keep ringing in her ears.

_You’ve changed._

She closes her eyes for a second than pushes the thought out of her mind and brings in a more cheerful one.

“Hey congrats on the win today!” she raises her cup, then continues,

“To Sokka! And the rest of the team.” She smiles and they hall clink their solo cups together.

She takes a sip of her drink and almost chokes. She hadn’t meant to make it _this_ strong.

***

The third drink Katara pours herself is just as strong as the first but it doesn’t burn nearly as bad now. Now she’s _drunk._

Zuko finds her on the porch talking animatedly to Yue about something having to do with Fashion. Yue sees him before Katara does and he taps her shoulder. Katara whirls around and Yue quietly walks away with a smirk on her face.

“Zuko!” her face lights up when she sees him and she hugs him quickly, which he was not expecting judging by the tint of red that brushes over his cheeks. Her face is flushed from the drinks but also from the contact.

When she pulls away from the hug she stumbles a little and he spots the drink in her hand and his eyes narrow.

“How many of those have you had?”

“Counting drinks takes away all the fun.”

“Counting drinks makes sure you don’t blackout and forget everything.”

“It’s an acceptable loss.” She shrugs remembering why she is drinking in the first place and her expression becomes sad. Zuko doesn’t pry but he definitely doesn’t want to add to whatever is making her upset, so instead of asking he quickly changes the subject and says,

“I was actually looking for you, I was going to ask you to be my partner in beer pong. You and I versus Suki and Sokka?” he suggests and the look of gloom is replaced by a grin.

“We are going to crush them.” She states with a competitive edge in her voice, taking him by the hand and dragging him inside to the pong table where Sokka and Suki are waiting.

***

Katara and Zuko do indeed _obliterate_ Suki and Sokka at beer pong. 3 times in a row.

“You know what, you have an unfair advantage!” Sokka exclaims and Zuko and Katara give him a look of confusion.

“And what would that be?” Zuko’s eyes narrow.

“Suki and I are soccer players, Katara, has the advantage of being a D1 athlete in a sport that involves her hands, not her feet. It’s simply not fair.” He huffs.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Katara quips but she stumbles grabbing onto Zuko’s shoulder. 3 rounds of beer pong did nothing to help her inebriated state. He places his hand on her waist to steady her so that she doesn’t fall over.

“I think it might be time for Katara to call it a night.” He says to Sokka, who sighs,

“I don’t know what’s more embarrassing, the fact that my own sister beat me in beer pong 3 times, or the fact that she beat me border line blacked out.”

“Where’s Toph, Yue and Ty-Lee” he questions?

“They left like 20 minutes ago, said something about how she was safe in your hands.” Suki teases.

“Safe in my hands?! She can barely stand!” Zuko starts and Katara huffs in annoyance.

“I can stand just fine. I can walk myself home” She releases her hand from where it is on Zuko’s shoulder and goes to walk towards the door and ends up tripping over her own feet, but she manages to steady herself.

“See..” she squeaks, “I can walk just fine.”

Sokka and Zuko exchange a look and Katara attempts to walk through the door to presumably leave but Zuko grabs her by the wrist halting her in her tracks.

“I’ll walk you back, there is no way someone as directionally challenged and _drunk_ as you should be navigating their way home right now…” he states and she glares at him.

“Fine let’s go” she sighs pulling him out the door.

“Bye Sokka, bye Suki!” he yells over his shoulder before being dragged out the door. 

They make it approximately 10 feet from the house before Katara trips again and nearly face plants, Zuko catches her just before she hits the ground.

It takes them a while to get back to the building. Much longer than it should’ve. Zuko offers to carry Katara, but in her stubbornness she declines. They make it back to the residence hall in 30 minutes. Katara is giggling the whole time and Zuko tries to be annoyed but the sight it just too entertaining.

When they finally make it up their floor Katara pauses outside her room.

“Aang showed up today.” She blurts out. He furrows his eyebrows, he doesn’t know where this is coming from, but he lets her continue.

“He showed up and expected me to- I don’t know? Just fall into his arms. When I told him I didn’t feel the same way he got so mad and he was so upset and hurt. I hurt him. And honestly, I don’t know if he will ever truly forgive me.” She shutters. A lightbulb goes off in Zuko’s head, and her behavior all finally makes sense. He thinks for a moment before responding,

“He’ll forgive you. He will. I don’t know much about this kid save what Sokka and you have mentioned, but he probably just needs time. You shouldn’t have to settle for someone just because you don’t want to upset _them_. What good would come out of that? You need to prioritize yourself.“

“You really think he’ll forgive me?” she looks up at him, her eyes are watering a little.

“Yeah, plus, I’m not sure how anyone could stay mad at you for long.” He grins.

She looks at him as if she’s contemplating something. Then she pulls him into a hug, more meaningful than the one at the party earlier and he returns the embrace.

“Thank you.” she states sincerely after pulling away.

“Anytime.” He affirms with the same level of sincerity.

“Goodnight Zuko.” She says unlocking her door.

“Goodnight Katara.”

Toph doesn’t say a word when Katara gets into her bed that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alexa play "Something there" from the beauty and the beast soundtrack :)
> 
> Hope you liked it!  
> Kat


	6. Study Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara is confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Hailey for giving me the idea for a section of this chapter! No free Clout!

Zuko was right. Aang does forgive her. He shows up to her dorm again the following weekend and apologizes.

“I would rather have you in my life as a _friend_ than not have you in my life at all.”

She pulls him into a tight hug thankful that he doesn’t utterly despise her.

***

_2 weeks later._

Katara is about to settle down to work on some assignments when her phone buzzes informing her that 2 grades have been posted to the web portal the school uses for grades called **_Blackboard_**.

She checks her grade for her biology class first. It’s the Exam I grade and when she opens the section for the class she lets out a dejected sigh. She got a 79. It’s not great, but the exam was difficult and she knows she needs to work on her study habits, she can work with a C.

She then checks her medical ethics grade and freezes when she sees that number grade corresponding with the essay she spent hours working on last week has received a 68.

She checks the time and sees that it is 1:55pm. Professor Iroh’s office hours run from 2:00-4:00 on Thursdays so she grabs her backpack and begins to make a beeline for the Lotus Life Science Building. She doesn’t even know what she plans to say to her professor, but it doesn’t matter she just wants to know what prompted him to score the essay she had spent hours on so low.

Never having been to his office before, she spends a few minutes trying to locate it on the second floor. When she finally finds it, the door is cracked open an inch. Not wanting to be rude she knocks lightly. No one answers. She knocks again, this time a little louder. Again, no answer. She can see the light is on so she cracks the door open a little and freezes when she sees a familiar face.

“Zuko?!” she screeches.

He jolts from his spot behind Iroh’s desk and removes his earbuds.

“What are you doing here?” she asks him confused.

“Oh, just withering away thinking about the excruciatingly exhausting curse we call _life_ …”

She continues to stare at him.

“I’m grading papers for Iroh…” he sighs.

“Well I need to talk to him; do you know where he is-“ she stops mid-sentence when she realizes that her paper is sitting on the desk and that he is grading papers for her class.

“You graded my paper? _YOU_ are the reason I got a 68? Oh, I am going to _kill_ you.”

“Your commentary on the Flexner report could have been better…” he pipes out and shrinks in his seat.

“I spent hours on that paper Zuko. _Hours._ ”

The voice of her professor from the doorway interrupts her rant.

“My nephew can be a harsh grader Katara, but he helps students see things from a view they wouldn’t consider.” Katara’s eyes widen.

“ _Nephew?_ Professor Iroh is you _uncle?!_ ”

“Did I forget to mention that?” Zuko won’t meet her eyes.

“I think you are quite possibly the _worst_ RA in the history of the universe.”

“Here we go again.”

“What do you mean here we-“

“Alright, Miss Katara I read your essay and I actually thought that it was quite good, but Zuko and I both think that you can do better. Zuko helps my students see things from perspectives they would otherwise not have considered.”

“My essay considered five different perspectives of the Flexner report and looked into the implications it had on racism and discrimination in the medical field. I just don’t see how the essay could be pushed any farther.” She argues.

Iroh thinks for a moment before responding,

“Unless it’s a computing error, by University policy I cannot change grades once they are entered into Blackboard without dean approval…” Katara looks like she is about to argue when he continues, “However what about an Extra Credit assignment?” he proposes.

“What would the extra credit assignment entail?”

“I want you to write a paper about how personal relationships play a role in medicine. Why shouldn’t your friends be your doctors? Why shouldn’t medical professionals get too close to their patients? Discuss those types of questions. Oh, and I want you to work with my nephew. Get his opinion and help to make your paper stronger.” He finishes.

“You know I’m not actually your TA _right_?” Zuko pipes in, but sinks in his seat when Iroh narrows his eyes at him.

“And how long would I have to complete this assignment?” Katara adds.

“Until the end of the semester. I want you to really dig deep into the values at hand. Consider all aspects of these relationships. Take your time on this paper Miss Katara, I will personally hand grade it myself and expect a quality submission.”

“Thanks Professor Iroh, I won’t let you down.” And he nods his head in response.

Katara averts her eyes back to Zuko and narrows them.

“Our conversation is _not_ over.” She says before turning on her heal and leaving the office.

“Miss Katara, now she is a bright one.” Iroh grins once she is out of earshot

“She is _something_ alright.” Zuko retorts and returns to grading papers.

***

He finds her sitting in the common room later having a breakdown over her exam grade.

“I could help you study. I got a 98 in bio 101 last year with Bumi…”

“What’s in it for you?”

“Nothing, I just feel bad about the essay thing and-“

“So you want to tutor me out of _pity?_ ”

“Can’t you just let me help you?”

She thinks for a moment, pretending to contemplate the pros and cons of letting Zuko tutor her the responds,

“I _suppose.”_

***

She will _never_ admit this to anyone, but Zuko is a good tutor.

He takes his time and goes slow when there is a concept or topic that she isn’t comfortable with, but he doesn’t talk down to her.

_He would make a good professor_ she thinks to herself at their second tutoring session. He is explaining the function of the Golgi apparatus in cell signaling as if it is a story. She tries not to get distracted by the way his eye’s light up whenever she finally understands a topic.

***

“Can’t we take a break?” Katara huffs. Zuko and her have been sitting in the library prepping her for her second bio exam for the past 2 hours.

“As soon as you understand the function of the myelin sheath in neuronal communication, sure.” He states and she groans.

“The function of the myelin sheath is to increase the rate an impulse can travel along an axon.”

“And what disorder is associated with damage to the myelinated axons in the central nervous system?”

“Multiple Sclerosis.” She says with a hint of uncertainty.

“Are you sure?” he squints his eyes.

“Uh…yes.”

“Okay _fine_. We can take a break.”

Katara smiles triumphantly.

***

They hadn’t meant to get this off topic, really they hadn’t.

They were playing a quiet game of What are the Odds. Katara and Zuko were taking turns saying “what are the odds you…” then counting to 3 and choosing a number between 1 and 10. If they chose the same number, that person has to do the action.

“Okay, okay last one….what are the odds that you….” Katara thinks for a moment, “speak in a French accent for the rest of the night?” Then she counts, “1…2…3-“

“7!” they both say at the same time. Zuko places his face in his hands.

“Ah, oui oui?” he lets out in what she might consider the worst French accent that she has ever heard, and bursts into a fit of giggles, which causes Zuko to let out a snort which then makes her laugh even harder.

They only stop laughing when a faculty member approaches their table and almost kicks them out of the building, but as soon as the person is out of earshot they both make eye contact and start to laugh again.

***

Katara gets a 96 on her exam and she is so ecstatic about it that she races down the hall to Zuko’s door to inform him and thank him for all of his help.

She knocks on the door without thinking, but then she realizes that there are voices coming from his room, and Zuko doesn’t sound thrilled, he sounds like he’s yelling. But before she can even turn around to go back to her room, the door opens. But it’s not Zuko’s eyes that meet her own. It’s her teammate Mai starring at her with a confused look.

Katara doesn’t know what to say, so she lets out

“Uh-sorry, wrong uh, wrong room- I gotta go.“

She doesn’t even let Mai respond before she turns on her heal and exits the building.

***

Katara is confused.

She is sitting on the porch at one of Sokka’s parties quietly observing everyone thinking of the events of earlier that day.

_Why was Mai in Zuko’s room_ and _Why do I care that Mai was in Zuko’s room_ are the two thoughts circulating around her brain.

His voice breaks her from her thoughts.

“Something on your mind?”

_You._ That’s what she wants to say, but she settles for,

“Ah you know, withering away thinking about the excruciatingly exhausting curse we call _life_ …” she echoes his words from a few weeks ago back to him and he snorts.

“Hey, that’s my line.”

“Yeah, it was very _poetic_ of you.” She retorts.

“It was wasn’t it? Maybe I should add a third major and study English.” He jokes.

“If you added a third major you would never have time to tutor me.” She retorts, half kidding.

“Speaking of tutoring you, are the grades in for your exam?” he gives her a sideways glance.

“Oh yeah, they were posted earlier I got a 96.”

“Katara that’s amazing! I knew you could do it. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He smiles and his eyes are even brighter than she’s ever seen them.

Then all at once a crippling realization appears in her mind,

_I think I have feelings for Zuko._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hailey gave me the idea for the grading paper section. Follow her on twitter user zukosvape :)


	7. Blackout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara has herself an interesting morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to post/is kind of short. I hope you enjoy!

_I cannot have feelings for Zuko. Nope absolutely not, Katara thinks to herself._

Apparently she waited to long to respond to his question because his voice interrupts her thoughts.

“Uh are you okay…you’re face got all pale all the sudden?” he asks with a look of concern.

She doesn’t have a chance to respond because Sokka abruptly interrupts their conversation with a story about some kind of drama revolving around their team.

Katara excuses herself from the two boys and makes a beeline for the kitchen.

She starts to pour herself a rather strong drink but is interrupted by someone.

“Sheesh, that’s a lot of vodka, trying to forget someone?”

She turns her head to see a semi-familiar face, _Jet_ she thinks.

“Something like that.” She responds.

“I’m Jet, but you probably already knew that.”

“Katara.” She says uninterested and then goes back to making her drink.

“We should hang out some time, what are you doing next week?”

“I’m uh-busy.”

“What about the week after?” he furrows his eyebrows.

“I’m busy for the rest of the semester,” then she takes her drink and moves past him in search of her friends.

As she leaves the kitchen she almost runs right into Suki.

“Woah Katara are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine just… uh stressed.”

“What’s got you stressed?”

“The usual, school, sports….” She lies and Suki nods in an understanding fashion.

“Well, if you want to blow off some of that stress I am in serious need of a pong partner.”

“What about Sokka?”

“Sokka sucks at pong. But you and I would be unstoppable.” Suki sing songs. Katara downs her drink and nods.

“I’m in.”

They play at least 4 games before Katara starts to lose count. At some point they transition to a game of musical cups, then stack cup, but after the second game of stack cup everything goes black.

***

Katara wakes up to a pounding sensation in her head.

_What the hell happened last night._

She shifts in her bed and slowly opens her eyes, but she quickly realizes this is not _her bed._ Her sheets are white, these sheets are navy.

The walls are the same but they’re covered in soccer jerseys and pictures that are not her own. She glances down at her body, she still has her jeans on but she is wearing a BSSU soccer t shirt that is 10 sizes too big.

When her eyes move to the opposite side of the room her heart almost stops beating.

Zuko is passed out on the futon.

She tries to connect the dots. She remembers talking to Zuko. She remembers her revelation about her feelings. She remembers Sokka interrupting them and talking to Jet. She remembers playing a few rounds of beer pong with Suki, but then it all gets fuzzy. She searches for her phone quietly in the sheets, but not quietly enough because Zuko begins to stir from his spot on his couch which makes her freeze.

“Oh. You’re alive. That’s good.” His voice is raspy from just waking up.

“I’m scared to even ask.”

He laughs at that and then sits up and stretches out his blanket falling onto the couch.

_He’s shirtless. And in sweatpants. This is bad. This is very bad._ Katara thinks to herself.

“It wasn’t that bad.” His voice goes up about 5 octaves when he tells her this and her eyes narrow.

“What happened?”

“You got pretty, uh- drunk last night.”

“I know _that._ But why am I _here_ , and _where_ is my shirt?”

“Well, after round 4 of stack cup you had another repeat of that one time when you got so drunk that you could barely walk-“

“I _could_ walk just _fine._ ” She interrupts and he gives her a look. “ _I could!”_

“Okay anyways, last night was like if you took that and multiplied it by 100. And so, I ended up having to carry you home, but when we got to your dorm, you didn’t have your key and Toph wasn’t answering the door, so I took you here because I didn’t want to leave you in the hallway!”

“How _noble_ of you.”

“Thanks I try.”

“What about my shirt?”

“Well…you sort of yacked all over it last night. But don’t worry, you changed yourself I didn’t see anything!” he defends and his cheeks turn a bright shade of pink and Katara puts her face in her hands and groans.

“I am _so_ sorry that you had to witness that. I owe you.”

“It’s fine, you don’t owe me anything, plus some of the stuff you said last night was _prettyyy_ entertaining.”

Her eyes narrow again,

“What did I _say_?”

“Nothing nothing don’t worry about it, you should probably go shower.” He says trying to change the subject.

“Are you trying to tell me that I smell?”

“Well you did throw up on yourself last night…” he says and she throws a pillow at him.

“ _Wow_ you really know how to charm a girl!” she says sarcastically and hops down from where she is sitting on the bed and starts to make her way to the door and he follows so he can close it once she leaves.

“But seriously thank you for helping me last night, I’ll wash this and give it back to you.” She says pointing to the shirt.

“Anytime, and you can keep the shirt, it looks better on you then it ever did on me.” He says and her face turns beet red.

_Okay universe you can swallow me up whole now!_ She thinks to herself.

“Right- well I am going to go take that shower you so _kindly_ suggested…I’ll see you later!” She says quickly.

When she opens the door she is met with a person raising their fist about to knock.

It’s not just anyone, it's her teammate, _Mai_.


	8. Spiked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mai is pissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sleep deprived but didn't want to leave y'all with that cliff hanger so... enjoy!

For a moment Katara and Mai just stare at each other in shock. Well, Katara is in shock Mai doesn’t really have anything but a blank expression resting on her features.

Zuko is standing behind Katara still _shirtless_ and nobody is saying a word.

It all looks very, _very_ bad.

“So, you’re sleeping with _freshmen_ now?” Mai says in a cold tone as if she doesn’t know Katara’s name. Katara’s cheeks gain a hint of red at the implication.

“I’m not _sleeping_ with anyone. And for the record who I do and do not sleep with is _none of your business._ ” Zuko responds with the same tone.

“I’m just going to, uh-“ Katara slips past Mai quickly and runs down to her room. The last thing she wants to do is get in the middle of a fight between Zuko and Mai. Though that can't be avoided now she supposes.

She slams the door shut as soon as she gets to her room and sinks against it.

 _Mai is going to murder me,_ she thinks.

***

Mai is definitely pissed at Katara.

While she never really is outwardly warm towards Katara, she it completely and utterly ignoring her at practice the next day. Katara isn’t the only one to notice either.

“What’s got her all pissed off?” Ty Lee questions while they are taking a water break. Katara hasn’t told anyone about the events of the previous day and doesn’t intend to, so instead she settles for,

“I’m not sure.” And Ty Lee doesn’t question it.

Katara can handle Mai ignoring her. What she cannot handle is what happens next.

While they’re on the court Ty Lee serves the ball and instead of hitting it over the net, she spikes it directly to Katara’s head causing Katara to fall over clutching her head in pain.

“Mai what the hell was that?” Their coach yells.

“Sorry, my hand slipped.” She says monotone and shrugs.

“This team can’t afford any accidents, 10 laps around the courts. Go.” Bato huffs and Mai complies.

Katara is still sitting on the ground holding her head in her hands.

“Ty Lee, take Katara to the athletic trainer please.” their coach tells them.

***

The trainer diagnoses her with a mild concussion. She informs Katara that she shouldn’t play volleyball or strain her brain much for the rest of the week and Katara begrudgingly complies. The trainer gives her a note to send to all of her professor’s excusing her absences for the coming week and sends her on her way with an icepack for her head.

When she returns back to the courts she tells her coach the news and he sends her home, which at first she argues, but the throbbing pain in her head makes her agree. Ty Lee offers to walk her back and skip the rest of practice, but Katara tells her to stay because the last thing the team needs is 2 players missing practice. As Katara makes her way out of the gym she locks eye’s with Mai who has the slightest look of guilt on her face.

As she makes her way back to her building she comes face to face with Zuko in the hallway.

“What the heck happened to you?” he looks at her concerned.

“I have a concussion.”

“And how did that happen?”

“Your girlfriend happened.” She sighs.

“Mai?” he asks and she nods.

“She is _not_ my girlfriend.” He defends.

“Okay well your _ex-girlfriend_ then.”

“Did you guys get into a fight or something?”

“No, you _idiot_ she spiked a ball directly at my head during practice.”

“She _what?_ Like, on purpose?”

“Well I don’t think it was an accident.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Well it probably has something to do with the fact that she caught me in _your_ shirt walking out of _your_ room while you were _shirtless_ yesterday morning.” She exclaims.

“We talked through that yesterday though, I explained everything to here, I thought she was fine…” he trails off.

“Well she clearly wasn’t. Anyways, if you’ll excuse me I need to get some rest.” She huffs in annoyance and tries to move past him to her room. Her feelings for Zuko are what put her into the mess in the first place. If she didn’t have those, she wouldn’t have blacked out the night before and most certainty wouldn’t have ended up in Zuko’s bed. If she hadn’t ended up in Zuko’s bed she wouldn’t be out of her sport for a week.

He grabs her by the wrist.

“Well if you need anything please don’t hesitate to ask.” He gives her a pleading look before letting go.

If she wasn’t so annoyed at the universe right now, she probably would’ve collapsed right there, but instead she just says,

“Thank you.” And makes her way to her room leaving Zuko standing in the hallway.

***

Her and Sokka grab lunch during the week. He says something about them needing one on one time and about how she needs to get out of her dorm because she has been sitting in it all day due to her injury. 

“You seem off.” He eyes her from across the booth.

“Well I did get slammed in the head with a ball.”

“Valid.” He hums but then he looks up and she has a weird look in her eyes.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else bothering you?”

“What’s the deal with Mai and Zuko?”

His eyebrows furrow that’s not what he was expecting.

“Why, do you have a _crush_ on him?” he jokes totally oblivious to the fact that, _yes she does indeed have a mild crush on Zuko_ , and she throws one of her French fries at him.

“No! I just- I’m curious, Mai hates the fact that I’m friends with and I don’t wanna ask her, and I just have a feeling that Zuko would go all emo if I asked him. “ she shrugs. It’s not a lie, but it isn’t the whole truth.

“They have a _weird_ relationship. They have been on-again-off-again since they started seeing each other last year. They would be fine for a month then they would get into a huge fight over something dumb but then they would get back together maybe a week or two later. They broke up in March after he caught her with another guy at a party. They haven’t gotten back together since then so I’m hoping they’re done for good because that is a _toxic_ relationship if I’ve ever seen one.” He finishes.

Katara doesn’t really know what to do with this information, so she puts a mental pin in it and saves it for later.

***

Getting over her _crush_ on Zuko is incredibly difficult.

During the week he brings her food to her room and forces her to go on walks with him and it’s all very sweet but it is doing _nothing_ to cure her feelings. He’ll sit in her room and talk with her for hours about nothing to keep her from getting bored since she isn’t supposed to use electronics.

Sometimes she thinks that _maybe_ he likes her too when she’s on the receiving end of one of his smiles or the cause of his laughs but she brushes off the idea because she doesn’t even know if he considers her anything more than one of his residents. Plus, she does not need Mai hating her more than she already does.

So Katara does what any sensible college student would do. She decides she needs to ice him out.

***

She waits until after she heals from her concussion to distance herself, but her purposefully steering clear of him does not go unnoticed. He finds her in the common room 3 days into her endeavor.

“Are you avoiding me?”

_Yes._

“No.”

“You’re acting weird.” He eyes her suspiciously.

“We’re friends right?”

“What?”

“We’re friends right?” she repeats, then continues, “I’m not just your _resident_.”

“Did you get another concussion _or_?”

“I’m being serious.”

“I can’t believe this even needs to be said. Yes, Katara we are _friends_. I think I would consider you one of my _best friends_ actually _._ But don’t tell Sokka.” He finishes with an amused smile.

She can’t quite explain it but that makes her heart flutter.


	9. Happy Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka has a Halloween Party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a mess but its a fun mess!

Katara considers the repercussions of what would happen if she were to theoretically spill her heart out to Zuko. Even if she actually did so, what would happen then? His relationship with Mai is so messy and they’re both so busy that she isn’t even sure if they could actually have a real relationship.

So Katara decides to keep those feelings inside for now and continue her _friendship_ with Zuko. She attends his games, and him and Sokka make it to some of her tournaments, but they are never able to stay for very long due to their own sport’s obligations. If Mai notices Zuko’s presence at the games, she doesn’t say anything.

Mai has yet to apologize for spiking a ball directly at Katara’s head but she has yet to repeat her action and she stops sending so many glares Katara’s way, so she considers this progress.

***

A few weeks later it’s what everyone refers to as _Halloweek_. Most normal college students would go out every night of the week dressed in a different costume but since Katara is a student athlete during on season, she only gets to celebrate on Friday, Halloween night. She’s been so wrapped up in school and practice and Zuko that she didn’t even realize the party was tonight until her she’s sitting in the library with Zuko the morning of it.

“What are you dressing up as for the party tonight?”

“What do you mean?” she questions.

“Like what are you going to wear as a costume….? Because it’s, you know, Halloween.” He says gesturing to the decorations the library has set up for the week.

“ _Shit!_ I forgot that was tonight, I don’t know, maybe I’ll run out to the store and pick up some cat ears later?”

“You _can’t_ go as a cat.”

“Why not?”

“That’s just too basic.”

“I’m _sorry_ I didn’t know you were the _Halloween costume police._ What are you going as anyways?”

“The devil.”

“Wow how _showstopping_ and _original_ of you.”

“Hey, at least it’s not a _cat.”_

“Okay well since you’re so against that idea, I don’t suppose you have another one?”

He thinks for a moment.

“You could do what Sokka did last year.”

“And what’s that exactly?”

“He just put a bunch of stickers on his shirt and called himself a laptop.” He laughs.

“I don’t have any stickers and Sokka would never let me live it down if I stole his Halloween costume, maybe I’ll just borrow one of his jersey’s and go as a soccer player or something.”

“Or you could go as an angel.” He suggests.

“I don’t have a halo, and I don’t know if wearing all white would get the message across.”

“I have one! When I bought the devil horns and pitch fork for the costume it came with an angel halo and wings too, so you could just take those.” He states.

“I might just take you up on that.”

***

When she follows him to his room to retrieve the accessories she pauses.

“Are you sure showing up in matching costumes is a good idea? I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea…” she trails off.

She doesn’t have to name who _anyone_ is. It hangs in the air between them, _Mai._

“Well if _anyone_ gets the wrong idea that’s their own problem.” he states handing her the two items.

“If you’re so sure. Thanks Zuko.” She says smiling up at him before returning back to her own room to get ready for the night.

She doesn’t notice the way his eye’s light up when his name rolls off her tongue.

***

Her, Toph, Ty Lee and Yue get ready for the party together.

Katara borrows a white strapless minidress from Yue and has her makeup done in a mostly natural sense but does add a little bit of shimmer shadow onto her eyelids. She slips on the wings and places her halo on her hair. All she needs are her shoes and she is ready to go.

“How do I look?” she asks, turning to her friends.

“Katara! You look amazing!” Yue says excitedly.

“Zuko isn’t gonna know what hit him.” Ty Lee quips.

“I wish you would just drop that, him and I are just _friends_.”

“ _Just friends_ don’t show up to a Halloween party in matching costumes.” Toph states.

“You three are going as the three blind mice!” Katara huffs in annoyance.

“That’s different.” Yue interjects.

“How is that different?”

“Because neither Toph, Yue, nor myself make googly eyes at one another all day.” Ty Lee responds.

“Zuko and I do not make googly eyes at each other!”

 _Well Zuko doesn’t make googly eyes at me,_ she thinks.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Toph responds.

“You guys are impossible.” She huffs and then they make their way to another one of Sokka’s parties.

***

“You look absolutely angelic _.”_ he says when he sees her.

“Wow, how… _poetic_ of you.” She snorts and rolls her eyes.

“I try.”

She is about to respond when an unfamiliar voice interrupts their conversation.

“Oh Zuzu, what a fitting costume.”

Katara turns her head and comes face to face with a girl who bears a striking resemblance to Zuko. She’s dressed as a witch.

“ _Azula_? What are you doing here” he questions and a look of confusion falls over his features.

 _Azula, that’s the name of his sister he mentioned,_ Katara thinks.

Azula ignores his question and instead turns to Katara.

“And you must be the freshman that I’ve heard so much about! No wonder Mai is so threatened by you. I mean look at you. Zuko you have outdone yourself. I’m Azula by the way.” She says and reaches her hand out for Katara, who shakes it reluctantly. She hopes Zuko doesn’t notice the shade of pink that her cheeks surely turned from Azula’s mini speech.

“Katara.” She responds.

“Right , _Katara,_ well, I’ll leave you too it. I need to find Mai, the second she saw you two she got all stoic.” Azula says before excusing herself.

“ _Mai_ is _here?_ ” Zuko pipes out holding the bridge of his nose and Azula turns back around. 

“Yup!” she says then continues to retreat into the house.

“That’s just lovely.” He says and takes a sip of his drink.

***

_Of course Mai is here, why wouldn’t Mai be here._ Katara thinks to herself as she pours a strong drink for the thousandth time this semester. _She hasn’t attended any of Sokka’s parties up until now, but the one she shows up to is the one where I am wearing matching costumes with her ex boyfriend-_

“You and Zuko huh?” Jet interrupts her thoughts while she’s pouring herself a drink. _Here we go again._

“Why does everyone think that we’re a _we_.” She sighs.

“So you’re not?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Well, when that inevitably goes down in flames, call me.”

Katara scoffs and makes her way out of the kitchen.

She catches a glimpse of a scene that makes her heart hurt more than it should. Zuko is talking to Mai about something, and it doesn’t look like their fighting. It just seems like they’re having a normal conversation. A feeling bubbles in Katara’s chest, _jealousy._

Katara is more mad at herself than anyone because she knows that Zuko isn’t _hers_ to be jealous over.

***

Suki finds Katara on the back porch of the house by herself stuck in her thoughts.

“Katara? What are you doing out here? The parties inside.” She jokes.

“I just needed to clear my head I guess.” She sighs.

“Well, what’s on your mind?”

She pauses for a moment, she hasn’t really talked to anyone about this but she trusts Suki not to say anything.

“A boy.”

“I see.” Suki pauses, the continues, “Is said _boy_ present tonight?” she questions.

“ _Maybe_.”

Suki doesn’t press the matter any further, instead she just says,

“Well, whatever is bothering you, you should take it up with him. Communication is _key_.”

***

After several drinks Katara finds herself talking to Zuko in the living room.

“Okay so as your _best friend_ I need to ask you a question.”

“Go for it.”

“What’s the deal with you and Mai?” she asks and a sad look falls over his features.

_Maybe now wasn’t the best time._

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m just…nosy.” She says unconvincingly.

“Mai and I had horrible communication issues. And I was always in the wrong no matter what our fight was. I would always be the person that ended up apologizing. Like, she cheated on me somehow it was my fault? I just think we work better as friends.”

“Would you ever get back together with her?” she questions.

“I doubt it. Our last break up was pretty bad. She would have to do a complete 180 in order for me to even consider that a possibility. She would have to learn how to apologize, which I don’t even think is in her nature.” He finishes and downs his drink. She thinks she sees a mop of black hair around the corner, but she’s too intoxicated and enthralled in their conversation to acknowledge it.

“Zuko.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you guys broke up.”

“Why’s that?”

“You deserve better.” He smiles at her and then she thinks,

 _You deserve the world,_ she doesn’t verbalize that thought though.

***

They’re on their way back from the party when Katara asks,

“Remember that time when we were in the library and we were playing what are the odds?”

“Yeah, and you made me talk in that horrible French accent.” He laughs.

“Yeah and then we almost got kicked out of the library” she giggles,

“Only because _you_ couldn’t stop laughing!”

“We should play again.”

“Like right now?” he questions looking down at her.

“Yeah, like right now.”

“Okay, you go first.”

***

“What are the odds that you call Sokka _right now_ and tell him that _I’m_ your best friend in the whole world?”

“You are so cruel for this one.”

“1…2…3.”

“3!” “5!”

“Oh thank _agni_ I couldn’t handle the repercussions of that one.” He shutters and she laughs.

“Okay its your turn, last one.” she says as she stops outside of her door.

He pauses for a moment, trying to come up with something.

“I can’t think of anything. You go instead!”

“Okay, okay.” She thinks for a moment. An idea pops into her mind. She contemplates it for a moment and then starts to speak,

“What are the odds that you… _never mind_.” She stops herself. She probably shouldn’t be doing this.

His eyebrows furrow.

“Go on, say it.” He encourages her.

Maybe it’s the way he’s looking at her like she holds all the stars in the sky or maybe it’s the liquid confidence from the vodka, but she doesn’t hesitate this time when she says,

“What are the odds that you _kiss me_?”

A moment passes and he has this look in his eyes that she can’t quite decipher.

“That was stupid maybe I should just-“ she turns on her heal to open her door but he grabs her wrist and spins her around pulling her towards him in one movement. 

His lips crash down against hers. She’s too stunned to respond at first and he’s about to pull away when her brain finally registers what’s happening and she grabs his face to keep him right where he. She kisses him back with all the feelings she’s been keeping buried inside for the last month. His lips are soft and they taste like _peppermint_. His hands make their way to her waist and he pins her against her door. At some point her halo falls on the floor but she doesn’t seem to notice. He pulls away a few seconds later and she already misses the warmth of his lips against her own.

“You know if you wanted to kiss me, we didn’t need to play a game, you could’ve just asked.” He smiles and she rolls her eyes and goes on her tiptoes to press another kiss against his lips.

They’re interrupted by the sound of the elevator dinging and they leap apart awkwardly.

“Uh-Good night _Zuko_. Thanks for walking me home” She squeaks reaching for her door handle, trying to act casual for whoever steps off that elevator and failing miserably.

“Good night Katara.” He laughs and makes his way to his own room.

_She thinks Halloween might just be her new favorite holiday._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was worth the wait ...


	10. Lets Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some interesting conversations take place. Also some volleyball fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter swaps back and fourth between Zuko and Katara's POV!!! Enjoy!!

Zuko wakes up the next morning to a knock on his door. He’s still on cloud 9 from his kiss with a certain resident the night before.

When he opens the door, much to his dismay, he finds Mai.

“Can we talk?”

“Why are you here?”

“I literally just said I wanted to talk.”

“I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“Zuko, please?”

He contemplates it for a minute, then lets her in.

“I’m sorry.” She says the moment the door closes.

He furrows his eyebrows,

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for how I treated you while we were dating and I’m sorry for never taking responsibility for my actions.”

Zuko blinks, then narrows his eyes.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Why do you always have to question my intentions?”

“Why are you apologizing now? Where was this months ago?”

“I’ve changed a lot over the past few months. I was actually hoping we could maybe give _us_ another chance.”

“I don’t know Mai. I’ve changed a lot over the past few months too, I’m not the same person I was months ago.”

 _My feelings have changed,_ he thinks

“Well, think about it. I have to go get ready for my game today.” She says before turning on her heal leaving a very confused Zuko standing in the middle of his room.

***

Katara is finally starting to understand her coaches rule about how the 24 hours leading up to a tournament are meant to be “dry”, meaning no alcohol consumption. 

She wakes up at 10:00 am with a slight headache and blushes at the events of the night before. She’s a little mortified at her bold actions but the feeling of his lips on hers was worth the embarrassment.

“Good morning sugar queen, how was your night? Did prince charming walk you home?”

“It was _fine_. And I don’t know what prince charming you’re referring to.” She says carefully. She doesn’t plan on telling anyone about the events of last night until she talks to Zuko. She doesn’t really know where last night leaves them, and she’s a little scared to have that conversation. Their talk is going to have to wait after her game. Toph doesn’t push any further and instead changes the topic.

“Don’t you have a game today? I think Yue and I are going to come by.”

“Yeah, were playing DLU.” Katara yawns.

“Oh shit! DLU? Think you’ll win?” Toph questions.

“I hope so, they beat the team last year so I'm sort of hoping we destroy them today,” she laughs.

“Well, _hopefully_ your teammates remember to spike the ball at the opposing team today.”

And Katara hums in agreement to that.

***

Zuko, Sokka and Suki make it to the coliseum after the end of the third match and sit near Toph and Yue.

“So how are they making out so far?” Sokka asks as they all take a seat.

“Babe, there’s a scoreboard right there.” Suki points out, BSU has won the first 2 matches, and it seems as though DLU is honing in on a win for the current match. 

“Yeah _I know that._ I meant how is Katara playing, any concussions?” he jokes.

“Not yet.” Yue responds.

Zuko’s eyes survey the court. Katara hasn’t noticed their presence yet, and neither has Mai.

 _The latter is probably for the better_ he thinks.

He tries not to stare to long at Katara, but her volleyball uniform looks _good_ on her, apparently he stares for a little to long because then he hears,

“What’s got you so quiet sparky?” and he startles.

“Nothing. Just watching the game.” He blushes a little hoping nobody, especially Sokka notices.

“Why isn’t Azula on the court, doesn’t she play for DLU?” Suki squints looking for her.

“I see her, she’s on the bench, she probably got a red card.” Zuko sighs.

The group continues to converse through the rest of the match and to nobody’s surprise, DLU wins that game.

There’s a 10 minute break before the next match starts and Katara finally take’s notice of her friends. She sees Sokka and Suki first, sending them a smile and a wave, then her eyes meet Zuko’s and he swears he sees her cheeks flush a little, she sends him a wave.

“What was _that_ about?” Suki whispers and nudges his shoulder.

“What was _what_ about?” he gives her a sideways look. He doesn’t plan on saying anything until he has a conversation with Katara herself. He wants to make sure that their moment last night, wasn’t just a _moment._

“That look she gave you.”

“What look?”

“Agni, you are so _dense_ for someone so smart.” Suki sighs.

“You’re delusional.” He huffs in response.

Katara isn’t the only person who notices Zuko. Mai does too, and she doesn’t miss the little exchange between her teammate and her ex-boyfriend either. Mai looks at him, but he is clearly avoiding her gaze. She’ll have to take matters into her own hands.

***

The tournament ends up going to a 5th game after DLU wins the fourth match. Zuko can tell that Katara is growing frustrated. Her coach didn't put her in the previous game, which he knows from talking to her over the past months is something that annoys her to no end.

Azula is also back to playing during this match and its cut throat.

BSSU and DLU are both tied at 24 points. One more point and the match will be over. Ty Lee serves the ball and Mai hits it over the net. The ball goes back and fourth a bit before Azula attempts to Spike the ball, but Katara dives and stops it from touching the ground allowing for Mai to slam it over the net, securing their victory.

Katara and her team are ecstatic and so is the crowd. Azula has an annoyed but slightly amused look on her face.

“Good game _Katara.”_

“You too!” she smiles.

Katara is thrilled. She hugs Ty Lee, and Mai even spares her a high five, but her bliss doesn’t last long. The crowd begins to make their way onto the court. She see’s her friends start to come down, including the boy she kissed last night, but while her brother, Suki, Toph and Yue make it to her, Zuko never does.

She sees it happen in slow motion.

He’s maybe 10 steps onto the court when Mai grabs him and pulls him down hard for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was so late, I didn't have my laptop on me for 2 days!  
> Also, sorry for this chapter in general :)


	11. Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little messy. 
> 
> TW: this chapter contains coercion from a character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this chapter is a mess, but I hope you enjoy it!

Sokka tackles Katara into a hug but her eye’s don’t leave Mai and Zuko. It’s like she’s watching a train wreck in slow motion. She wants to look away but she can’t. Suki must have seen the look in Katara’s eyes because she averts her gaze to the two just as Zuko pulls away from Mai and her eyebrows furrow. Even _she_ seems confused.

Katara should be thrilled at the win, but she’s just pissed.

Sokka lets go of her and totally oblivious to her thoughts and emotions says,

“Great job sis! It’s fun getting to watch you kick ass!”

Katara blinks.

“Uh. Um- yeah thanks Sokka.”

“Are you okay? You just beat your rival team, you should be ecstatic, are you sick or something?” he furrows his eyebrows.

Katara is overwhelmed and before she can respond, Suki does for her.

“She’s probably just overwhelmed and tired from last night Sokka. Katara, how do some celebratory milkshakes sound?”

Katara sends her a grateful look.

“Milkshakes sound amazing.”

“C’mon let’s go then!” Suki says throwing an arm around Katara and starting to walk.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Zuko? Where is he anyways?” Sokka stops at the door.

Katara takes a glance back and sees him in a conversation with Mai. She locks eyes with him and his gaze is unreadable. She shakes her head.

“No. Let’s just go.” Katara states.

Sokka narrows his eyes at her.

“Did something happen between you too? Like did you get into a fight or?”

“No.”

Sokka doesn’t press the issue any further and sends a text to Zuko to tell him they left.

***

As soon as Katara turns the shower water off she hears a knock at the door. She throws on her robe and opens the door to a stressed looking Zuko.

“Hi” he breathes out.

She blinks then responds,

“Hi” blankly.

“Good job today.”

“Thank you.” She says in the same tone as before.

“Can we talk?”

“Can I put clothes on first?” she gestures to her robe and dripping hair.

“Oh-uh yeah, sorry I didn’t realize you-never mind, anyways, I’ll be in my room just come by whenever you have a second.” He sighs and she closes the door.

He is the last person she wants to speak to right now.

***

Once she’s dressed she begrudgingly makes her way to Zuko’s room. She knocks and he lets her in and they just awkwardly stare at each other quietly for a few seconds then he breaks the silence.

“Are you mad at me?”

She pauses before answering, trying to find the right words.

“Why would I be mad at you? Because you kissed your ex-girlfriend? Or is she your girlfriend again? The saga is getting too confusing for me.” She says sarcastically and this remark irritates him.

“First of all, _she_ kissed _me._ ”

“Well, _you_ kissed _her_ back.” She lets out.

“I- it’s complicated Katara, she came to my room this morning and apologized for all of the shit she did during our relationship.”

“Tui, I feel like such a fucking moron. I let you kiss me last night, I liked you and I thought that _you liked me_ and I should’ve known that you would just crawl back to Mai like you always do, like you said so yourself. Always going back to her because its _safe._ ” She didn’t intend to let all of that out, but it just fell like _word vomit._

That one stung. A look of hurt falls over his features.

 _Good,_ she thinks, but the thought is quickly replaced with guilt.

“That’s not fair Katara! I don’t think that how I go about my relationship is any of _your_ business. And I never said that I _liked_ you. We had a moment, that’s it,” he replies harshly.

This time the hurt is written on her face.

“Goodbye Zuko.” She says before swiftly exiting his room and slamming the door on her way out.

***

A week goes by without either of them speaking to one another. Katara doesn’t even get a glimpse of him until another one of Sokka’s parties the following weekend. He shows up with Mai.

“So, was I right?”

“What?”

“Did it go down in flames between you and scar-face?”

“There was never even anything there to go down in flames.” she sighs.

“Well, the offer still stands”

“What offer?”

“Me.”

She’s about to make a snide remark in response but then she sees a pair of golden eyes watching her. So, instead of responding to Jet she yanks him down and pulls him into a kiss, which is perhaps the worst kiss of her life. But it didn’t matter. When she pulled away Zuko was gone.

***

She’s making herself another drink later when she hears Zuko’s voice from behind her.

“Jet, huh?”

“ _How I go about my relationships is none of your business_.” she spits his own words back at him but doesn’t turn around and continues to pour vodka in her cup.

“Just be careful Katara. He’s not a good guy.”

“That’s rich coming from you.” she turns and says in an annoyed tone then pushes past him leaving him in the kitchen.

***

She goes on a date with Jet the following week.

He’s funny but far too cocky and a little bit arrogant.

He’s just a distraction but a distraction is what she needs. 

***

She gets breakfast with Sokka a few days later.

“So I heard down the grape vine that you went on a date with Jet…” her brother trails off.

“So what if I did? If you’re going to try and stop me-well don’t even try.” She responds stubbornly.

“Katara, I’m not stupid. I know I can’t stop you from doing anything. You’re the most hard-headed person I know, well- you might be tied with Zuko in that-that’s not the point, what I’m trying to say is just be careful.” He stammers.

“Why does everyone keep saying that,” she sighs, slightly annoyed.

“He’s just got a reputation and I’ve heard the way he talks about some of the girl’s he’s been with and I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he says sincerely.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She replies and then changes the subject to something else.

***

The following week Sokka has another party and Katara is of course in attendance.

She avoids Zuko and he avoids her like vinegar and water. This pains her a little because before all of this happened they were friends, _best friends._ She won’t admit it but she’s starting to miss his presence in her life.

The thought leaves her mind as quickly as it appeared when she sees him with _her._

And then her mind travels back to their fight.

_I never said I liked you._

_We had a moment._

_That’s it._

Katara cringes at the memory of the words and the icy tone of his voice and finishes her drink, moving into another part of the house where she won’t be reminded of him.

***

She feels a pair of hands snake around her waist and internally groans in annoyance. She needs to end whatever her thing is with Jet soon. She’s just not that into him and she knows the only reason she started to hook up with him was out of spite. There is no way they could ever have a healthy relationship when its built on her seeing him as a distraction.

But then she sees Zuko laugh at something Mai whispers in his ear and settles on the fact that breaking off this distraction will have to wait.

***

She’s drunk by the time she’s ready to leave the party. Jet says something about going back to his place and she’s not really paying attention so she agrees.

He lives in a different building than her.

He closes the door behind them as they enter his room. His roommate isn’t there and it’s just the two of them.

He kisses her and she kisses him back but then he reaches for the hem of her shirt and she pulls away.

“I don’t want to-“

“It’ll be fine.” He rolls his eyes and leans down to continue.

“No.” she says firmly and pushes him back slightly.

“C’mon, don’t be such a bitch.” He tries to lean down again.

“I just said _no_.” she huffs aggravated and takes a step back.

“You’ve been stringing me along for the past 3 weeks. What’s the matter? Still hung up on Scar Face?” he states with an annoyed tone.

“This has nothing to do with Zuko. You’re acting like I owe you sex.” She seethes.

He tries to kiss her again but she pushes him away again.

“I’m leaving. Clearly you don’t understand the concept of the word _no._ ” she makes a move towards the door.

“Whatever, _whore.”_

“Incase it wasn’t clear. Whatever _this_ was. Is now over.” She slams the door behind her.

She walks home by herself. The incident sobers her up and she doesn’t want anyone to witness the state that she’s in. She just feels icky and _violated._ She’s in such a daze that she doesn’t even realize that she’s crying.. She also doesn’t realize that Zuko is on his way home from the party and calling her name as she approaches the door to her building until she feels a hand on her shoulder. She whirls around ready to punch whoever laid a hand on her but then her watery eyes meet his eyes and he looks startled, as if he wasn’t expecting her to look like _this._

“Katara-what happened? Are you okay?” he looks extremely concerned.

“What do you care?” she bites back. He is the last person she wants to see, well right behind _Jet._

“Because we’re friends.”

“Are we?”

A look she can’t quite read flashes across his face.

“Of course. What happened? Did Jet do something? I’ll-“

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It _does_ matter.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” she thinks that if she thinks about it anymore it’ll just result in more tears. She makes her way into the building and he follows closely behind. He doesn’t press the matter any further. He knows that if she wants to talk to him, she will.

Their ride up the elevator is silent. When she reaches her door he pauses,

“I know you _hate me_ right now, but I am always here to listen if you need someone to talk to.”

She pauses halfway through twisting her key through the lock and looks at him.

“I don’t _hate you_.”

He looks a little surprised by that, but it’s the truth. She doesn’t hate him. Far from it. She wishes she could hate him. That would make all of this so much more simple. She doesn’t give him a chance to respond, she quickly opens her door and lets out,

“Goodnight Zuko,” closing the door behind her not waiting for the words she knows he’ll say back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be up this morning but I was out all day. Hope you enjoyed!


	12. Playoffs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another soccer game.

_One week later_

The men’s soccer team is in the playoffs and their first game for the playoffs is tonight.

Katara, Yue, Suki, Toph and Ty Lee all attend decked out in BSSU gear and the stadium is packed. They manage to get there early enough to secure seats together towards the front.

Katara is purposefully avoiding staring at two players, so instead she focuses her attention on her brother for the entire first half.

***

Zuko’s eyes scan the crowd at the end of the first half. Mai and Azula are there together talking about _something._

His eyes shift to his other friends, Suki, Ty Lee, Toph, Yue and _Katara._ He almost chokes on his water when he realizes she’s wearing the shirt he gave her a while ago.

Jet pick up on Zuko’s stare. He doesn’t bring it up until they're on the field.

Zuko kicks the ball just shy of the net and huffs in annoyance, Jet takes this opportunity to provoke him,

“You know you might have actually made the shot if you weren’t so distracted by Sokka’s whore of a sister.” Jet jokes just quietly enough so that Zuko can hear him.

Zuko blinks.

“What did you just say?”

“I said you probably wouldn’t have missed the net if you weren’t thinking so much about Katara. The _whore.”_ He says slowly he’s directly in front of Zuko and he turns to go to his position on the field when Zuko puts his leg out and Jet stumbles.

“Don’t call her that.”

Jet turns around.

“Okay sorry, the _bitch_ then.”

A flip switches in Zuko’s brain and all he can see is red. His body reacts before his brain can comprehend his actions and he doesn’t realize that he’s just socked Jet square in the jaw until he sees Jet’s fist come back in response directly at his left eye. Jet tries to throw in another punch but Zuko catches his hand.

“I don’t know why you’re so mad. It’s the truth. She’s a _whiny bratty good-for-nothing slut._ ” Jet spits and takes Zuko’s momentary distraction by his words to hit him again square in the temple with his freehand.

Zuko loses it at that. He throws punches at Jet until he’s on the ground with Jet pinned down. He doesn’t stop swinging at Jet until he hears a whistle blowing and he’s forcefully pulled away by his teammates.

Sokka runs up to him from the opposite side of the field.

“What the hell was that?”

“He- he was saying shit about your sister. He called her a whore and a bitch and-I just-“ Zuko stops mid-sentence. His adrenaline rush from Jet’s words is slowly fading and his body is beginning to catch up with the punches thrown at his temple, his vision is going blurry, then everything goes black.

***

He wakes up to the sound of two voices.

“What happened?” a frustrated girl’s voice questions.

 _Mai_ , he registers.

“Well, Jet was getting up in Zuko’s face and -.” Sokka starts.

A sharp pain shoots throughout his body and he groans interrupting Sokka.

“Oh good, you’re awake. Don’t worry, we all vouched that Jet started the fight.” he smiles, then continues his explanation, “So anyways, Jet was getting all up in Zuko’s face. He was calling Katara a bunch of _choice words_ , and then Zuko-well you saw the rest.” He finishes.

Mai has an unreadable expression on her face.

She turns to Zuko,

“Are you _fucking_ kidding me. You’re unbelievable.” She says angrily. This is not the response he was expecting. Judging by Sokka’s shocked reaction he wasn’t expecting this either.

“I’m just going to uh head out.” Sokka says awkwardly. He does not want to be in the middle of one of their fights. As soon as the door closes Mai continues,

“I mean, you and I are dating and all you can think about is _Katara._ It’s pathetic Zuko. Actually, what’s pathetic is the fact that I apologized to you, I changed for you. You were always focused on everything that I did wrong in our relationship. I could never do anything right. I changed for you and this is how you _repay me?”_

Zuko blinks at that, well he attempts to blink. Between his black eye and his eye with the scar it doesn’t really work. His mind is working overtime trying to process all of the words hailing from Mai.

“This is why our relationship doesn’t work Mai! It’s not a transaction- “ he cuts himself off as her words register, “ _wait_ , why did you apologize? The morning after Halloween? What caused your sudden change in attitude?” he questions.

“Because I wanted us to have a fresh start.”

“But why all of the sudden.” His eyes narrow and Mai looks like a deer caught in headlights. He thinks this may be the only time she’s ever shown this emotion.

“I heard you talking to Katara at the Halloween party.” She sighs, she knows she’s been caught.

“It wasn’t fair. You were so focused on everything that you hated about me and everything that you liked about Katara this entire semester. I just wanted things to go back to how they were but it’s clear that’s never going to happen.”

Part of Zuko is furious and the other part understands where she’s coming from. Things were different a year ago. They were happy. Now their relationship was this cloud looming over his head.

“I think…I think it’s time for us to break up…permanently.”

***

Katara resumes her tutoring sessions with Zuko a few days later. She can’t afford to fail general biology due to her own personal feelings so she sets them aside for the sake of her grades, plus she is dying to ask him about the fight.

“Let’s take a break,” he states after an hour and a half of studying DNA mutations.

She wastes no time.

“So what was the fight about?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It so matters, just look at your face. C’mon tell me.”

“I feel like it’s better if you don’t know.”

“If you tell me, I’ll tell you why I was so upset that one night a few weeks ago, and well if you don’t tell me I’ll just ask Sokka…” she doesn’t mention the fact that she already tried to ask Sokka, but he wouldn’t tell her.

“You’re the worst.”

“I know.”

“ _You_.”

“What?”

“The fight. It was about you.”

“ _Oh.”_ She looks surprised.

“Why?” she asks.

“He was being an asshole and calling you a bunch of names and I just got so mad and-“

“Thank you,” she cuts him off, and then continues, “For defending me, but next time, just let it go, I’m not worth it.”

“You’re wrong.”

“What?”

“You are worth it. I’d do it again. No hesitation.”

Her eyes soften and she puts her hand over his.

“So, why _were_ you so upset a few weeks ago…” his eyes narrow.

“If I tell you, you have to promise you won’t throw any punches.”

“So it did have to do with _Jet.”_

“I won’t tell you until you agree!”

“Okay fine no punches.” He huffs.

***

He sticks to his word. He doesn’t punch Jet at their next practice. Instead he settles for a swift kick of the ball right to his head when his coach isn’t looking.

***

Suki grabs milkshakes with Katara from the local diner the next day.

“Did you hear that Jet is out for the rest of the season?” Suki asks her.

“Wait what? I thought he was fine from the fight?”

“Yeah well, Sokka told me that at practice yesterday Zuko kicked the ball right at Jet’s head. He has a concussion.”

“Maybe him and Mai do belong together… you know, the whole _giving people they hate concussions during their sports thing_ …” Katara trails off and Suki gives her a look.

“Zuko didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Him and Mai broke up. For good.”

“ _Oh_.”

Katara isn’t quite sure what to do with this information.

***

"Katara can I talk to you for a second?" Mai asks her after one of their practices that same week.

"Yeah of course."

"I'm sorry." 

This throws Katara for a loop. She was expecting a warning to not go after Zuko, or something about practice, not an apology.

"For what?" she furrows her eyebrows.

"Spiking the ball at your head, the concussion, eavesdropping on your conversation with Zuko on Halloween..." she trails off.

" _I thought I saw you that night!"_

Mai ignores this and continues.

"I just wanted to apologize for acting like a teenage girl."

"Well to be fair you _are_ a teenage girl." Katara interrupts.

"Will you just let me apologize. It isn't something I do often."

"Yeah, yeah I'm sorry continue."

"Basically, I'm sorry for everything and I hope you can forgive me."

"I do."

"Really? You can spike a ball at my head if it'll make you feel better...you know, an eye for an eye..." Mai trails off.

Katara lets out a laugh. 

"I feel like that would be counterintuitive to this entire conversation."

"I can see why he likes you." Mai changes the subject.

"What?" Katara is confused by the sudden shift in topic.

"Zuko, I can see why he likes you. And thanks for accepting my apology." she says then turns on her heal to exit the locker room leaving Katara with rose tinted cheeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!!!


	13. Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara and Zuko have a much needed discussion.

She sees Zuko for the first time since she heard about his breakup at a party the following night. 

She’s on the porch talking to Suki when he walks up behind them. Suki sees him before Katara does and she has a _déjà vu_ moment to Sokka’s first party.

This time Suki doesn’t linger around. She’s gone the second Katara turns around to face Zuko.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” She smiles up at him.

She wants to have a real conversation with him about all of the events that have recently occurred but she doesn't feel like Sokka's front porch is the time or place to discuss it so she puts those thoughts on hold for now. 

"Are you busy right now?" he asks.

"No I was just talking to Suki about-" she turns around and notices Suki's absence then shakes her head, "Nevermind, but no I'm not busy, why?"

“You wanna be my pong partner? I’m in the mood to kick Sokka’s ass and you and I make a great team,” he finishes and she smiles.

“We do don’t we?”

***

After a few rounds of absolutely demolishing Sokka at beer pong Katara spends the rest of the night bouncing around talking to different people.

She finds him talking to one of his teammates on the porch around 1:00 am.

She waits till their conversation is over to go up to him.

“I’m heading out. Walk me home?”

“Of course.”

***

When they reach Katara’s door she pauses.

They still haven’t had a real conversation about their fight. The tension hangs in the air between them. She cant wait any longer to address it, so she breaks,

“I’m sorry for getting mad at you for kissing Mai. It wasn’t my place to be angry. And it wasn’t my place to tell you how to run your relationship.” she continues, “this wasn’t my ideal timing for my apology but I just wanted to clear the air.”

“Katara you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry. For everything. For snapping at you. For telling you that kiss was just a moment. For telling you I didn’t have feelings for you. I did have feelings for you, I _do_ have feelings for you and-” he’s cut off her hands pulling his face down for a kiss. It last for just a moment before she pulls away. His eyes have a look in them that she can’t place and she thinks that maybe she made a mistake.

“Sorry, you were rambling and I just-“ this time she’s cut off by the feeling of his lips on her own and his hands on her waist, but then Katara remembers that they’re standing in the middle of the of their dorm and she pulls away.

“It feels wrong to be doing this in the middle of the hallway. Toph’s not here this weekend you know. You could come in.” she gestures to her door.

He contemplates her offer for a moment, but then shakes his head.

“I wanna take you on a date first. Take things slow.”

“A date?”

“Yeah you know that thing where people hang out, romantically and get to know each other-“

She flicks his nose.

“I _know_ what a date is you moron.”

His hands move from her waste into the air holding them up defensively.

“You’re the one that asked!”

“It was rhetorical,” she states and he rolls his eyes.

“So what do you say? Will do me the honor of going on a date with me?” he asks dramatically which makes her snort.

“Your ability to charm a girl never ceases to amaze me.” She says sarcastically.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” She says and then she pulls him down for one more kiss.

“Good night Zuko.”

“Good night Katara.”

***

He takes her out to get milkshakes at the diner for their first date.

“This feels very, _Riverdale_ of us.” She says scrunching her nose and he laughs in response.

“So I was thinking…I don’t think we should tell anyone about _us_ yet. I don’t want you to have to deal with Sokka’s big brother protection act and I wanna see how long we can make it without anyone finding out. They’re all so oblivious, except maybe Suki,” Katara finishes.

“I feel like Sokka would support us _._ You really think he’d pull the protective big brother act on me?”

“I don’t know,” she admits before continuing, “but I can bet money that it’ll be your fault when _this_ gets revealed.”

He feigns offence. 

“My fault?”

“One hundred percent without a doubt. I just know you’ll slip up. It’s okay I’ll still lo-like you.” She catches herself. She doesn’t know if she _loves_ him yet in that way, as a friend, _of course_ , but she definitely doesn’t plan on slipping the L word out on their first date. If he notices her almost slip up, he doesn’t say anything.

“I don’t know Katara, I find it hard to believe you’ll be able to keep your hands off of me at one of Sokka’s parties. I think it’ll be you that slips up,” he jokes and she throws a fry at him.

“Didn’t you carry me home from one of his parties? If anyone is going to have a hard time keeping their hands to themselves its you.” Her eyes narrow.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave you at Sokka’s house? So you could wake up to the sound of him and Suki-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. I don’t want to think about what my brother does in his free time,” she shutters then continues, “I’m just saying if anyone is going to have a difficult time keeping this a secret, its you!”

“Keeping what a secret?” a voice interrupts, making the two of them jump. It belongs to Suki and she’s there, standing in front of their booth holding Sokka’s hand.

 _Why wouldn't they be here,_ Katara thinks sarcastically. 

“Just the fact that my uncle is playing favoritism with Katara. He gave her an extra credit assignment but didn’t give it to the rest of the class and she doesn’t want anyone to find out and get mad.” Zuko retorts quickly.

“Right…” Suki says in a tone that makes it sound like she doesn’t quite believe that story.

“What are you two doing here?” Sokka asks curiously.

“Study break!” they both say at the same time.

“Mind if we join you?” he asks. Katara glances at Zuko and he shrugs in response.

 _Real helpful,_ she thinks, but she doesn’t have a valid reason to say no to Sokka without admitting that they are in fact on a date, and she wouldn’t dare give Zuko the satisfaction of it their relationship status being leaked due to her words so she smiles and says,

“Not at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short and probably should've been added onto the tail end of the last chapter, but nonetheless I hope you enjoyed it!


	14. Stolen Glances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko and Katara attempt to hide their relationship from their friends.

There are quite a few slip ups and _almost_ revelations by both Zuko and Katara following the start of their relationship.

***

The first time is Zuko’s fault. _Shocker._

Katara and Ty Lee are in line at the coffee shop on campus after practice when she notices Zuko is 2 people ahead of them.

“Zuko!” she says loud enough for him to notice.

He turns around and his eyes light up at the site of her. He lets the 2 people behind him cut in front of him so he can stand with her.

“Hey Ba- _“_ then notices Ty Lee and starts coughing to cover up the fact that he almost just said _babe._ “ _Katara, Ty Lee.”_ He finishes after his coughing fit.

“You okay?” Ty Lee asks.

“Yeah, I’m good, just _allergies_.”

Ty Lee doesn’t probe any further.

They fall into a conversation about school related things and when its finally time to order, Katara goes to pay but Zuko stops her.

“I got it.”

“I can pay for mine and Ty Lee’s coffee Zuko, its fine.”

“I insist.”

“How charming.”

“I aim to please.”

“I’m sure you _do,”_ her eyes narrow.

After the barista calls their drinks Zuko politely excuses himself citing that he needs to get to practice. As soon as he’s out of earshot Ty Lee hits Katara’s shoulder.

“ _He is so into you.”_

“He is _so_ not.” Katara lies and Ty Lee huffs.

“Yeah okay sure, he’s not into you like how I’m totally not into his sister.”

“Wait, you and _Azula?_ ” Katara nearly squeals, she is thankful for the change in subject but also excited for her friend.

***

She shows up at his door later that night.

“You need to stop being so nice to me in front of people!”

He blinks.

“What?”

“You heard me! People are starting to catch on.”

“You want _me_ to stop being _nice_ to _you…_ ” he trails off confused.

"Yes."

"I'm not doing that."

***

The second time, it's sort of both of their fault.

Her and Zuko are in the middle of a make-out session on Zuko’s couch when they’re interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door. At first they both ignore it but the knocking continues and soon there’s a familiar voice behind it. _Sokka._ They both jump apart. If Sokka was going to find out about their relationship, it most certainly was not going to be like this.

“It’s Sokka.” Zuko whisper yells.

“I know I have _ears!”_ Katara whisper yells back.

“Zuko! It’s Sokka!” they both hear from outside the door.

“I’m coming!” Zuko yells.

“You need to hide; he cannot find you here when you look like _that_.”

“What do you mean _like that_?” she furrows her eyebrows then walks over to the mirror and realizes what he means. Her hair is all disheveled and her lips are swollen and there’s a red mark on her neck, “I’m going to _kill you_.” She whispers, “The last one _just_ went away.”

“You need to hide! Get in the closet!” he whispers pushing her towards the tiny closet. He closes the door, fixes his hair in the mirror and walks to the door to greet Sokka.

“Hey Sok, sorry I was ah- asleep.” He lets out.

“No worries. I’m here on important business.”

“Which is…?”

“My sister.”

“ _Oh.”_

“Can I come in? I don’t want her or her friends to overhear me.”

“Yeah…sure.” Zuko says hesitantly and Sokka enters his room taking a seat on the couch.

“So, you’re here about _Katara_ …” Zuko asks slowly.

“Yeah. I think she has a boyfriend.” Sokka says in a serious tone.

“ _You do?”_ Zuko squeaks, then coughs and in a more even tone continues, “why do you think that?”

“She’s just been acting weird and then the other day we were getting lunch and I noticed a, uh, a- you know-a…” Sokka says awkwardly gesturing to his neck, then finishes, “A hickey!”

It takes all of Katara’s willpower to not start laughing from inside the closet.

“Are you sure it was a hickey? Maybe it was just a curling iron burn…” Zuko trails off.

“No Zuko, it was _definitely_ a hickey,” Sokka shutters.

“And you’re here telling me this because?”

“I want you to keep an eye on her. Find out who the mystery man is. I know her friends won’t spill, and when I asked Suki she told me to stop prying, but I want to know who this guy is so I can find him and make sure he doesn’t hurt my little sister.”

“You want me to _spy_ on Katara?”

“Yes. Precisely. Then I want you to report your findings back to me.”

“I don’t know Sokka, that seems like a major invasion of her privacy, can’t you just ask her _yourself_?” Zuko asks trying to get this situation out of his hands.

“I know she won’t tell me, she would just get all defensive and then annoyed.” Sokka huffs before continuing, “Please Zuko.”

“Fine.” He sighs, “I’ll do your dirty work.”

“I knew you would see things my way.” Sokka smiles standing up and patting Zuko on the shoulder. He then makes his way to the door when his eyes catch on something. A pair of shoes that are clearly not _Zuko’s._

“Who’s shoes are those?” Sokka asks.

Zuko blinks. And Sokka’s eyes move to the counter where he spots a cell phone. Zuko’s cellphone is in his hand.

“Is there a girl in here?” Sokka asks excitedly. 

Zuko blinks again, unsure of what to say.

“Uh-“

“There is, isn’t there! Thank god you’ve finally moved on from Mai. Oh man, sorry for interrupting. Thanks for agreeing to help me. I’ll just be leaving now!” Sokka says quickly before making a swift exit. Zuko locks the door behind him and leans against it sighing. He then walks up to the closet and opens the door.

“The coast is clear. You can come out now.” he smiles at her, but her eyes are narrowed.

“I’m sorry you dropped this” she deadpans holding out her hand.

“Dropped what?”

Katara flicks his forehead, “Your common sense you _moron._ What the hell were you thinking! “You agreed to _spy on me?_ ”

“Was I supposed to say no? Besides what does it matter! I’m the guy your hooking up with, _unless there’s someone else._ ” He jokes.

“You’re lucky I like you.”

“Well if you had done a better job of covering up your neck at lunch we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Well if you hadn’t given me the mark, I wouldn’t have had to cover it up!”

“ _I don’t remember you complaining while I was giving it to you_!” he states and she blushes.

“Whatever,” she huffs unable to come up with a valid response to that.

“Now, can we get back to what we were doing before my brother so kindly interrupted!” she asks dragging him away from where they are standing by the closet and towards the bed.

He doesn’t argue.

***

When he wakes up the next morning for practice he quietly untangles himself from Katara to get ready, careful not to wake her up. He showers and puts on his clothes for practice and doesn’t take a second glance at the mirror, something he will come to regret later.

***

When he finally arrives at practice he puts his things in the locker room and approaches Sokka, whose eyes go slightly wide when he looks at Zuko.

“Were you hiding a vampire in your room last night Zuko? Geez.”

“What do you mean.”

“Have you looked in a mirror today?”

“No…” Zuko says before pulling out his phone to see what Sokka is referring too. His eyes almost jump out of his head when he sees not one, not two but three marks on his neck.

He pulls up the messages app to send a text to Katara.

**Zuko: Really? 3? Your brother now thinks I’m hooking up with a demon.**

He puts his phone away because he knows she wont be answering anytime soon considering the sun has barely risen.

When he gets out of practice a few hours later he see’s a text from her.

**Katara: Payback.**

He rolls his eyes and types a response before putting his phone away and making his way back towards their building.

***

They keep their relationship under wraps for longer than they both expect. Zuko feeds Sokka lies about Katara’s _hook up_. And they become quite good at the whole secrecy thing. Stolen glances and holding hands under the table have become their brand. They make it through finals and most of the holiday break without exposing themselves. At this point its comical that nobody has noticed, or if they have they have yet to comment. There was a close call involving some _mistletoe_ at an ugly Christmas sweater party, but they were able to recover.

Things start to unravel on new years eve.

Most of their friend group returns to Ba Sing Se for the holiday and Sokka holds one of his parties in celebration of the new year.

Katara and Zuko, along with the rest of the party are tipsy off of champagne mixed with other alcohols.

They’re having a conversation and the countdown begins. They’re so wrapped up in each other’s presence that they don’t realize until they hear,

“ _Happy New Year!”_ from almost everyone in attendance at the party.

Zuko doesn’t give it a second thought. He leans down and kisses her and It’s short and sweet. When he pulls away she’s looking at him with wide eyes. He had just kissed her in front of _everyone_.

Zuko looks around and he see’s Suki tell a gaping Sokka, “ _I told you!”_

Sokka looks back and fourth from Zuko to Katara multiple times as if he is connecting all of the dots in his head.

“You, and my sister? _You...._ and _my sister?_ I’m going to be sick. You are so dead. Why didn’t you tell me?” Sokka starts.

“You don't get to be mad, y _ou asked him to spy on me.”_ Katara deadpans and Sokka shrinks.

“You know about that? Oh my god were you the girl in the room-the hickies- You know what. I don’t want to know. You have my blessing. Suki. I need a drink, lets go.” Sokka spouts before taking Suki’s hand and dragging her into the kitchen.

Katara turns to Zuko with a smirk.

“See. I knew it would be you that would break.”

He rolls his eyes and leans down to kiss her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I cant believe this au is almost complete! I might write some one-shots to accompany it!


	15. Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graduation and some fluff.

_**3 and a Half Years Later** _

The day of Katara’s graduation is bittersweet.

She is beyond excited to begin medical school in the Fall but isn’t quite ready to say goodbye to the place that has been her home the past 4 years.

The people she’s met, the friendships she’s built, the memories she’s made, she doesn’t think she’s ready to let all of that go.

Time has flown far to fast for her liking.

Zuko and Sokka return for the ceremony and the day is great but it’s just slightly sad. Her family is there to celebrate as well.

She’s inherited the parties from Sokka since his graduation, so she throws one last get together at the house she shares with _Toph, Ty Lee and Yue._

She can’t think of a better way to say goodbye.

***

**_4 More Years Later_ **

He proposes the same night she gets matched for her residency program.

She’s already on cloud nine from the adrenaline rush of getting matched with her first choice program. She’ll be practicing general pediatrics at a hospital on Ember Island. The best part is that they have a partner hospital at her home in the Southern Water Tribe, so she can pick up shifts there if she ever feels homesick.

They’re celebrating with a bottle of champagne in the living room of their apartment sprawled out on the couch. He wasn’t planning on doing it tonight but the look of happiness on her face and the way she throws her head back laughing at one of his jokes pushes up the event for him. He wants to spend the rest of his life with her, _why should he wait._

“Hey, remember that game we used to play, _what are the odds_?” He asks.

“Yeah, how could I forget your utterly terrible French accent…what was it you said? _Oui Oui?_ That was the best decision I’ve ever made. Peak comedy. _”_ she snorts.

“Yup, and then there was the other time we played when you asked me to kiss you for the first time.”

“ _Tui_ that was so bold of me, even for freshman year Katara, but I’m glad I did it.”

“Yeah?” he throws her a sideways glance.

“Yeah.” She affirms with a smile that makes his heart flutter.

“We should play again.”

“Like right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you go first so I have time to think of something,” she states.

“Before we start I have a question.” He states and she raises her eyebrows.

“Shoot.”

“So, you and I have been together for almost eight years now.”

“Technically seven and a half.” She quips.

“Right, _well_ those _seven and a half_ years have been the best years of my life.”

“Mine too.” She smiles.

“You are my best friend. My person.”

 _My soulmate,_ he thinks before continuing, “And I love you.”

“I love you too, more than anything.” She teases, but there is a sincerity in her voice and she turns her head to peck his lips.

“What was the question you had?” she asks furrowing her eyebrows after she pulls away.

“Right, um, I want to spend forever with you, I want to spend _eons_ with you.” he says pulling out a box with a ring from his pocket before continuing, “what are the odds you say yes _?”_

It takes her a moment to process his words, once she does her bright blue eyes water just a little bit out of happiness and then she nods, unable to speak.

“Is that a yes?” he asks with a grin.

“Yes.” She smiles and he slips the ring on her finger. The smile gracing his features makes him look the happiest she’s ever seen him.

She leans up to kiss him but pulls away after a thought graces her mind.

“You know, we didn’t have to play a game to get me to marry you, _you could’ve just asked._ ” She teases echoing back his own words from their first kiss to her. This time it’s his turn to roll his eyes. He doesn’t say anything, instead he leans down and presses his lips to hers.

***

“I take it back. What I said earlier.” She says later when they’re laying in bed.

“Saying yes to the proposal?” he tenses, “because it’s totally fine if you-“

“No you _idiot_ , not that” she laughs before continuing, “Of course I want to marry you.”

“Oh, then what do you take back?” he asks curiously.

“When I said that making you talk in that silly French accent earlier was my best life decision. It was hilarious, but it wasn’t by best decision.” She pauses, then continues.

“ _You were my best decision.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking around for the whole fic! All of the comments and kudos make my heart so happy and I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of the modern AU! :)  
> Kat


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